‘SNL’ Kicks Off Season 50 With Obvious Cameos and Toothless Satire

I hope the first cold open of Season 50 isn’t a harbinger of what Saturday Night Live will look like during its anniversary year. With an opening sketch devoted to — what else? — the upcoming Presidential election, SNL hit the ground running by stumbling into the show’s most common criticisms. 

• Overly long sketches? Check. The look at the Harris and Trump campaigns clocks in at over 13 minutes. Won’t we get enough of the political screaming during the commercial breaks?
• Unnecessary cameos? Check. Maya Rudolph as Kamala Harris? Of course. But this wouldn’t be post-Trump SNL without a mixed bag of celebrity cameos. Jim Gaffigan shows up as Lorne’s second choice to play Tim Walz, a reminder that the affable pale comic is more of a stand-up than a sketch comedian. Dorky Andy Samberg does better as Kamala’s enthusiastic husband Doug. Then Dana Carvey dodders out as Joe Biden, a role he auditions for weekly on his podcasts. The impression is OK — imagine Jimmy Stewart meets an aging Dana Carvey. But non-cast members outnumber actual cast members in the sketch, despite Bowen Yang as the surprising choice to play J.D. Vance. Even more surprising: SNL gives Yang nothing to do with the character.
• Non-political political comedy? Check. While SNL insists on parodying current events, it rarely goes for actual satire, choosing to introduce goofy catchphrases (“If we win, we can end the Dramala and then go relax in our pajamalas”) rather than critique the campaigns. 

With all the attention focused on Season 50, it would be nearly impossible for the comedy to live up to the hype. But still. The show’s rough start hits an even bigger speed bump with Jean Smart’s monologue, a sleepy musical tribute to New York that seems like it’s heading to a twist we can’t see coming. Nope — just Jean Smart likes New York.

Maybe SNL just needed to get summer out of its system. The show is peppered with drive-by references to months-old stories we’ve already forgotten — the Hawk Tuah girl, Lieutenant Governor of North Carolina Mark Robinson (actually joked about in two separate sketches), Chimp Crazy, and the baby hippo Moo Deng. The last one is the most inspired, with Yang dressed as the slippery beast at the Weekend Update desk. “Before me, the only hippos in media were either Hungry Hungry or Jada Pinkett Smith in Madagascar,” Moo Deng preens. “But now I'm your favorite hippo's favorite hippo.”

Yang dominates the season opener and that’s probably a good idea. He’s the show’s current star, especially with Kenan Thompson seemingly content to lay back and add giggles from the sidelines. But that leaves a lot of other funny performers — Sarah Sherman, Mikey Day, Heidi Gardner — without a lot to do. Note to Lorne: If SNL insists on the political cold opens, Day does a pretty good Biden.

For all the excitement around SNL season openers, they’re usually not great. The performers are rusty, the sketch writing not yet sharp, and there’s a compulsion to address stories missed over the summer. With opening night jitters out of the way, maybe Nate Bargatze, last season’s Rookie of the Year, can get things rolling next week.