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Saturday Night Live opened on an expected note, with the Season 46 premiere riffing on the major political event — well, the scheduled one, at least — of the week: the first presidential debate between Donald Trump and Joe Biden.
With Beck Bennett portraying moderator Chris Wallace, Alec Baldwin returning as Trump, and Jim Carrey making his debut as Joe Biden, audiences were treated to another round of the very unpresidential histrionics that unfolded Tuesday night, with NotTrump immediately launching into his ceaseless interruptions just like the real deal and NotBiden hitting back with self-defeating insults lobbed at the POTUS.
“Joe wears the biggest mask you’ve ever seen,” NotTrump exclaimed — much like the real deal did at Tuesday’s debate.
“Will you just shut up man?” NotBiden later responded, also in emulation of his real-life counterpart — after many of his “here’s the deal” efforts proved to be non-starters.
Of course, the sketch wouldn’t have been effective, or even relevant, without acknowledging the elephant in the room — chiefly Donald Trump’s positive diagnosis of and subsequent hospitalization for COVID-19.
“Did you take the COVID test you promised to take in advance?” NotWallace asked NotTrump, as a reference to Wallace’s claim that the real Trump and his family were not tested on-site ahead of the debate.
“Absolutely, scouts honor… The China virus is a hoax – and saying that will probably come back to haunt me later this week,” NotTrump responded with crossed fingers.
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The segment began with the self-deprecating note, with an opening scrawl proclaiming, “Even though Tuesday seems like it was 100 days ago … we thought it was pretty fun to watch, as long as you don’t live in America.” And after the faux Trump and Biden traded their barbs, and Maya Rudolph dropped in to calm everyone with her Kamala “Mamala” Harris impression, CarreyBiden employed a Click-like remote to pause and silence BaldwinTrump ever so briefly as a metaphor for what might result from the upcoming Nov. 3 election, if the real item defeats the incumbent, to make light of the odd news cycle most Americans are living through right now.
“America, look at me, look directly into my eyeballs, you can trust me, because I believe in science and karma,” NotBiden said. “Now just imagine science and karma could somehow team up to send us all a message about how dangerous this virus can be. I’m not saying I want it to happen. Just imagine it did. So this November, please get on the Biden, which is literally a commuter train to Delaware, and we can all make America not actively on fire again.”
There he is. #SNLPremiere pic.twitter.com/Mfm7tBBcKh
— Saturday Night Live – SNL (@nbcsnl) October 4, 2020
Saturday Night Live airs on Saturdays at 11:30/10:30c on NBC.