"SNL" Premieres 50th Season With Long-Awaited Political Cold Open
By :Catherine Smith
New York City, New York. The iconic Late Night Comedy show, “Saturday Night Live," kicked off its 50th season on Saturday, Sept. 28 with host Jean Smart and musical guest, Jelly Roll. The episode’s cold open comedically depicted the Kamala Harris and Donald Trump campaigns in the days after the presidential debate.
The first season of “SNL" debuted in 1975. Since then, it has gained a massive following and has launched many actors to fame. Big names such as Will Ferrell, Billy Crystal, Kristin Wiig, Bill Hader, Kate McKinnon, Tina Fey, and Amy Poehler all got their start as regulars on the show.
Every episode features a cold open that references current events happening around the country or world that week. The cold open is the scene before the show’s intro that famously ends with the actors breaking character and shouting, “Live from New York, it’s Saturday night!”
During election years, the show often brings back old regulars to play the candidates. This year has been no exception, with the friendly faces of Maya Rudolph (Harris), Andy Samberg (Doug Emhoff), and Dana Carvey (Joe Biden) making their returns. Harris’s running mate, Tim Walz, is played by comedian Jim Gaffigan, and Trump and JD Vance were portrayed by current "SNL" regulars James Austin Johnson and Bowen Yang.
According to NBC, 5.3 million people watched Saturday’s episode, making it the best premiere since 2020. The show started with an ABC World News intro and opened with David Muir (Andrew Dismukes) sitting at a desk. The "SNL" writer turned cast member introduced Trump and Harris, saying, “In the interest of fairness, we’ll be going live to rallies from both candidates tonight.”
The camera cut to Harris walking up to a podium to her campaign song, “Freedom” by Beyoncé. The Emmy-winning actress and comedian warmly greeted her audience and then launched into an energetic speech, containing a mixture of jokes and powerful political statements, making remarks such as, “My campaign is like the Sabrina Carpenter song ‘Espresso.’ The lyrics are vague, but the vibe slaps,” as well as, “This election is about moving forward... Donald Trump is stuck in the past.”
At that point, Rudolph was joined by Gaffigan, bounding on stage as Harris’s enthusiastic running mate. The Purdue and Georgetown University graduate awkwardly danced up to the podium and went on to carry his intense enthusiasm and notorious midwest “dad energy” into his speech, with the line, “Folks, I haven’t been this excited since I got a 10% rebate off a leaf blower from Menards.”
Rudolph was joined next by Samberg, her onstage husband, saying, “Tim is not the only white dude for Harris here today.” The two pressed their foreheads together in greeting and remained very touchy in reference to the couple’s well-known lovey-dovey presence together in real life.
Samberg’s impersonation of the Second Gentleman went on to speak about how proud he was of his wife and how if helping Kamala become president means being called “a beta, a wife guy, a trad [husband], a little spoon... then you can cut my little butt!” The Vice President ushered him off, telling him to “go cool down, Hot Shot.”
The scene then moved to a portrayal of Trump’s rally, which was “entering its third hour.” Johnson’s Trump stood on stage with a plexiglass screen in front of him. The second-year "SNL" regular referenced Trump’s known obsession with crowd sizes as well as his famous assassination attempt, saying, “We love my rallies, except when someone does a bing bong bing bing bing right at me.”
Johnson next welcomed Yang onstage with an annoyed glance and the quote, “People are saying [Vance] was a bad pick, and in many ways he was.” Vance tried to go in for a handshake, but Trump dodged him and walked off the platform, taking his plexiglass protection screen with him.
Yang, who joined the cast in 2018, acknowledged the Democrat’s criticism of JD Vance, saying, “I’m sure you’ve all heard what the liberal media has been saying about me. I’m a creep. I’m a weirdo. What the hell am I doing here?” As he started to mention Project 2025, a topic that the Trump campaign has given notably conflicting information on, the camera suddenly cut back to Dismukes.
The footage was directed back to the Harris rally, “where the dancing appears to be wrapping up.” Carvey finally made his appearance at the podium beside Rudolph as a very disoriented Biden, saying, “A lot of people will forget I’m president, including me!” The 69-year-old returning cast member let a smile slip as he tried to recreate Biden’s wandering speech pattern with the line “But guess what? And by the way. The fact of the matter is—no joke. This is serious right now. Are you serious? Anyway, in conclusion: me and Vice President Harris and the same.” At which point Rudolph ushered him off the stage.
Rudolph wrapped up the cold open with a final statement to her supporters. “If we win together, we can end the drama." End the trauma. And go relax in our pajamalas." Carvey wandered back onstage to join Rudolph in the infamous cheer, “Live from New York, it’s Saturday night!”
According to a review by the Barnard Bulletin, Michael Che, co-host of the regular segment, Weekend Update, greeted the audience onstage before the show started. “After Che’s introduction, the crew set up for the cold open, a personal highlight of the night,” the review stated. While it may have been the highlight, the 13-minute cold open kicked off a lively episode of "SNL" with many other skits featuring host Jean Smart and two performances from Jelly Roll.
These other sketches included Jean Smart as a romance novelist, hired to write a math textbook for an algebra class, as well as a Weekend Update segment featuring Bowen Yang as baby Hippo, Moo Deng. In his two musical segments, Jelly Roll performed songs “Liar” and “Winning Streak” from his new album, “Beautifully Broken (Pickin’ Up The Pieces).
The episode marked the start of what many have nicknamed “the anniversary season” and 49 years since the first episode aired on Oct. 11, 1975.