After a summer full of exits and goodbyes, “Saturday Night Live” opened its 48th season by poking fun at the recurring target President Trump and his own rebuilding period.
The sketch starred premiere announcer Miles Teller and cast member Andrew Desmocks as sports stars and his brother Peyton and Eli Manning, in a parody of their “Monday Night Football” demo. However, rather than analyze the plays of the football game, the two have instead shifted their vision to the new season’s opening sketch of “Saturday Night Live.”
At the top of the sketch, Teller, as Peyton, talks about the changes the other summer series has undergone, which has seen eight cast members – Chris Reed, Alex Moffat, Aristotle Athari, Melissa Villasinor, Bette Davidson, Kate McKinnon, Eddie Bryant, Kyle Mooney – They announced their exit from the long planning comedy series. “There are a lot of changes to the show, which could be exciting,” Teller said. “Let’s see what they come up with.”
But the sketch within the sketch proved to be a typical opening for the show, with James Austin Johnson reprising his role as Donald Trump in a sketch at the Mar-a-Lago club during Hurricane Ian. Although Mickey Day, Chloe Feynman, Heidi Gardner and Bowen Yang joined Johnson, the focus was on Manning’s comment, with Teller declaring that the drawing made “14 attempts at banter, one light laugh and three chuckles”.
Some jokes have poked fun at the show’s penchant for giving new members bit parts, with new featured player Michael Longfellow being given a simple role as a political aide, only to flop in to stop him and fail to shut the door behind him. “This might be the only time we’ll see him tonight,” Desmaux said. Elsewhere, Devon Walker is designed to simulate a virus Corn Kid from Tik Tokthe other two new specials – Marcelo Hernandez and Molly Kearney – did the spiky dance and Sarah Sherman was caught watching the drawing from behind the blinds.
The infographic also acknowledged the cast changes that marked the season by having Teller—after a deliberately lame impression of Heidi Gardner as South Dakota Gov. Kristi Noem—bemoan the lack of memorable political figures in the infographic: “How about an impression Fun like Anthony Fauci or Lindsey Graham or Rudy Giuliani?”
“Those were all Kate McKinnon,” Desmoux replied, referring to the now long gone cast member.
Stopped by the surprise appearance of three-time SNL host — and “Top Gun: Maverick” star Teller — Jon Hamm as guest commentator with the Peytons, and a somewhat inexplicable appearance of Shaun White in the sketch — inside a sketch. When Tyler questions White’s cameo, Hamm breaks the “SNL” logic to include other stars in the opening sketch.
“Sometimes they need to bring in a real celebrity when the host isn’t famous,” Hamm said. “When they couldn’t get the star of the summer movie, I was Tom Cruise or Jon Hamm, they had to get the co-star.”
“Well, I heard they rarely put the host out in the open, so when they do, it’s special,” Teller replied.
The October 1 premiere of “SNL” came less than a month after the live television organization won its sixth consecutive Emmy for Best Variety Series. In addition to Tyler as host, the episode featured Kendrick Lamar performing songs from his latest movie “Mr. Morales and the Big Steppers” as a musical guest.
Prior to the departure of the eight cast members over the summer, the show’s cast had remained unusually stagnant for several seasons, with the 47th season’s cast of 21 being the largest in the series’ history. The behind-the-scenes cast also faced a major loss after producer Lindsay Shookus left in August after 20 years on the show.
In addition to Hernandez, Kearney, Longfellow and the newly introduced Walker, other featured players were Dismukes, Austin Johnson, Sherman and Punkie Johnson. “Saturday Night Live” stars Gardner, Feynman, Yang, Dai, Kenan Thompson, Cecily Strong, Ego Nodim, Michael Che and Colin Jost as co-hosts of the Weekend Update.
Saturday Night Live broadcasts live from coast to coast on NBC, from 8:30 p.m. PT / 11:30 p.m. ET. Additionally, the show is broadcast live on Peacock. The next two episodes of the season will air on October 8 and October 15, and will feature hosts Brendan Gleeson and Megan Thee Stallion.
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