Special Guests Everywhere on This Week’s Saturday Night Live
Let’s be honest, this week’s Saturday Night Live was a disappointment. If like us, you thought the November 5 episode was going to be a gigantic pre-election laugh fest, or full of smart shots at the candidates, you were disappointed. Despite being on the eve of the most controversial election in recent memory, and despite that Alec Baldwin and Kate McKinnon’s portrayals of the two candidates have been excellent so far this season, this week’s SNL was a dud. And this week’s host, Benedict Cumberbatch isn’t to blame. He performed fine in the roles he was given. But there were no great sketches this week. There weren’t even any remarkably awful sketches this week- those can be fun to talk about too. There just wasn’t much to talk about in this week’s SNL, except perhaps some notable guest appearances.
This week in addition to host Benedict Cumberbatch and musical guest Solange, some old friends and new ones stopped by 30 Rock. The big news, of course, is SNL MVP Bill Murray’s return to Saturday Night Live. Murray appeared to gigantic audience applause with his beloved Cubs to sing Go Cubs Go. Joining Murray were David Ross, Dexter Fowler and Anthony Rizzo. “Did you used to work here?” Colin Jost asked Murray during the Weekend Update segment.
Murray wasn’t the only MVP alum to show up this week. Weekend Update also brought another famous alum to the stage- Dana Carvey- appearing as one of his most beloved characters, the Church Lady. Unfortunately for the audience, the thrill of having Carvey drop in was the only real fun to be had here. The sketch itself matched the tone and energy of the rest of this week’s episode- unmemorable.
If you’re wondering what happened to the great Clinton-Trump cold opens, we’re wondering the same. It felt like the writers just didn’t know where to go with this one, without a debate to emulate. The cold open was a two-parter, one on stage with “election coverage”, and a digital short with McKinnon and Baldwin breaking character while running through Rockefeller Center and Times Square. The first part had a few laughs, but couldn’t live up to Baldwin/McKinnon’s previous appearances. The digital short is inexplicable. Warning, eye rolls ahead.
The good news is, SNL returns next week on November 12 with Dave Chappelle and A Tribe Called Quest. We’re expecting greatness.
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