Saturday night live started season 50 with a bang!
During the Sept. 28 late-night premiere of the sketch comedy series, hosted by Jean Smart and featuring Jelly Roll as musical guest, the Weekend Update segment tackled one of the biggest moments of the week in its typically tongue-in-cheek fashion.
Post dated September 26 Today Show host Hoda Kotb — who will be saying goodbye to hosting duties after 17 years — took a bow in the segment of the show hosted by Colin Jost and Michael Che.
“Hoda Kotb has announced that she will leave Today show,” Jost, 42, began.
“Hoda says that her time in the show will remain a fond memory, and not at all,” he joked afterwards, while a photo of Kotb smiling while holding a glass of wine appeared on the screen behind him.
“Hoda Kotb is going to replace — oh no! — Matt Lauer-be,” Jost next teased, as a picture of Lauer, 66, — who was fired as host of the show in 2017 amid allegations about his behavior — appeared with photoshopped Kotb hair .
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Elsewhere on the show, the cold open saw Vice President Kamala Harris portrayed by Maya Rudolph, while Jim Gaffigan appeared as Harris’ running mate, Minnesota Governor Tim Walz.
Andy Samberg stepped into the role of Harris’ husband Doug Emhoff, and Dana Carvey stepped into the role of President Joe Biden. Meanwhile, former President Donald Trump was played by James Austin Johnson, and his opponent in the 2024 election, JD Vance, was played by his colleague SNL cast member Bowen Yang.
As well as many skits featuring Smart, the season premiere SNL it also featured her cameo Hacks star Hannah Einbender, who alongside Smart introduced musical guest Jelly Roll for his first performance of the night: the song “Liar” from his upcoming album, Beautifully broken.
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SNL announced the cast for its landmark season earlier this month.
Ashley Padilla, Emil Wakim and Jane Wickline have been added to the sketch comedy series’ roster, while Punkie Johnson, Chloe Troast and Molly Kearney have stepped down. Returning cast members Marcello Hernandez, Michael Longfellow and Devon Walker, meanwhile, have been promoted to lead actors after two years each as standout players.
Che and Jost, along with Johnson, Yang, Mikey Day, Andrew Dismukes, Chloe Fineman, Heidi Gardner, Ego Nwodim, Sarah Sherman and Kenan Thompson round out the rest of the cast. Other presenters and musical guests announced so far for SNLSeason 50 features Nate Bargatze with Coldplay, Ariana Grande with Stevie Nicks, Michael Keaton with Billie Eilish and John Mulaney with Chappelle Roan.Saturday night live airs weekends at 11:30pm EST on NBC.
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Source: HIS Education