The Best Moments From The ‘SNL’ Season Premiere

The 45th season of Saturday Night Live premiered this past weekend, and it expectedly milked the impeachment buzz for all it was worth (which I don’t fault them for, they couldn’t just not use Trump’s possible impeachment as fodder, but it’s all just getting a little old at this point, y’know?) this episode marked a historic debut for former-writer Bowen Yang as the first East Asian cast member of SNL — and he crushed it. His impression of presidential candidate Andrew Yang was spot on, and even got a nod from Andrew himself.

Saturday’s premiere, hosted by Woody Harrelson and featuring Billie Eilish as the musical guest, unfortunately had an abysmally low rating — but I would argue that that’s largely due to Trump’s impact on comedy, which is to say that it was funny at first, and now we are well past that point. This season opener definitely had more than a few good moments, and one sketch that I laughed so hard at this morning, I was in full-on tears at my desk. (Shout out to my coworkers for being super cool about it.)

Inside the Beltway

I know I opened this article by poo-pooing the onslaught of Trump-related stuff so I probably seem like a giant tool by praising this sketch, which is totally fair, but “Inside the Beltway” was not only refreshingly realistic about how this whole impeachment thing is going to turn out — ain’t nothin’ gon’ happen — but this was one of the best, most infectious slow-burn character breaks ever, and had a hilarious cameo from one of the stagehands.

Downton Abbey Trailer

This might be a little niche, but they totally fucking nailed this. If you’ve ever watched Downton, this sheds some hilariously painful truths on the series that you just have to laugh at, and DAMN do these editors and makeup artists ever deserve a raise — everything about this from the tone to the soft lighting to the goddamn eyebrows on every character is FLAWLESS. And if you’re not a fan of Downton, you can definitely still appreciate a good ol’ mocking-British-properness sketch. They’re never not funny. Also, START WATCHING DOWNTON, YOU FOOLS.

Apple Picking Ad

This is it, folks. This is the one. This is the sketch that had me slumped over my keyboard, fully snort-laughing. Aidy Bryant and Kate McKinnon as two very single and probably lonely sisters who run an apple orchard, Woody Harrelson as their farmhand that seems like a nice guy but still gives you the heebie-jeebies for some reason, and a very vocal and depressed donkey is what finally killed me. I don’t even want to pepper in any quotes from the sketch here because I truly just want you to experience it all as it unfolds.

Published at Mon, 30 Sep 2019 20:59:25 +0000