Given that Election Day is only a month away, SNL fittingly opened the show with a cold open that was appropriate for the times.
SNL jumped right into the political news cycle, recreating the first presidential debate. Moderated by Beck Bennett, who played Fox News’ Chris Wallace, Jim Carrey's Joe Biden and Alec Baldwin's Donald Trump captured the chaos of the debate. Baldwin interrupted Carrey multiple times, and there was one point where both decided to calm their anger with mediation tapes. For Carrey, Harry Styles made a surprise cameo to help cleanse his soul.
Near the end of the sketch, Maya Rudolph's Kamala Harris made an appearance to tell Trump to apologize to Biden. After more babbling from Trump, Biden hit the pause button on Trump for a moment of peace, so we could "just not to hear his voice for a single Goddman second, let's bask in the Trumpless-ness." You can watch it above.
After a short hiatus due to the ongoing coronavirus pandemic, SNL returned to Studio 8H in Rockefeller Center and broadcasted live in front of a smaller studio audience. COVID-19 policies will be enforced for guests. Per Vulture, the policies include a “mandatory” COVID test, temperature checks, mask wearing at all times, and a COVID-related questionnaire. Chris Rock hosts the 46th season premiere with musical guest Megan Thee Stallion.
In a promo before tonight’s episode, it was announced that Jim Carrey will play Democratic presidential candidate and former Vice President Joe Biden. Maya Rudolph returns with her impression of Sen. Kamala Harris, who is the candidate for Vice President. They will be joining Alec Baldwin’s Donald Trump impression this season.
![SNL cast](data:image/svg+xml,%3Csvg xmlns="http://www.w3.org/2000/svg" viewBox="0 0 203 115"%3E%3C/svg%3E)