As usual, “Saturday Night Live” plunged into its new season with relevant political references with the Cold Open, which featured Kristen Wiig, the show’s most recognizable female star, as Christine O’Donnell, the Tea Party candidate for Senate who admitted to dabbling in witchcraft. Wigg shouted the familiar opening line, “Live from New York, it’s Saturday Night!” in a pointed black hat while rising on a broom above the stage.
The cast montage included four new faces- ó Vanessa Bayer, Paul Brittain, Taran Killam, and Jay Pharaoh ó and the disappointing omission of Will Forte and Jenny Slate. Former cast member Amy Poehler, one of comedy’s leading ladies and an eight-year veteran of the show, returned to SNL as the host.
Her monologue featured appearances by several of SNL’s other notable alums, including Rachel Dratch, Jimmy Fallon and Tina Fey, and a surprise visit by Justin Timberlake.
Maya Rudolph returned to SNL to play Poehler’s co-host on “Bronx Beat,” a talk show that featured two loud, proud mothers who mostly complain about their husbands. Katy Perry was the show’s musical guest and played a teen in a tight Elmo shirt who volunteered at the library by reading to children.
But the real reason for the high number of new readers is her newly developed “bazoombs.” This is a direct reference to her recent rejection from Sesame Street for showing too much cleavage in her segment; Poehler’s character remarked, “Today’s show is brought to you by the number 38 and the letter DD.”
Unfortunately, Perry’s appearance in “Bronx Beat” was the highlight of her screen time. The best thing to be said about her performances of “California Gurls” and “Teenage Dream” is that they showcased her fondness for flashy costumes. Perry is a fantastic entertainer, but the girl cannot sing live.
Surprisingly, SNL chose to do a skit on the highly controversial mosque that was to be built near Ground Zero. The fake commercial bit started out as advertising the mosque as a great place to hold a gay wedding, and it quickly progressed to other contentious topics, such as advertising a state-of-the-art pregnancy termination center and free naturalization for Mexican citizens.
Rather than focusing on just the mosque, several hot button issues were ingeniously thrown into the mix. It ended with an ominous voice telling viewers “it could happen,” and “paid for by the Republican National Committe (and 70 percent of the DNC)” flashed on the bottom of the screen.
While still having an expectedly liberal lean, this brilliant piece of writing brought up today’s most debated issues in a light-hearted way without putting too much blame on a single party.
Other highlights of the night include “Weekend Update,” which is always a tongue-in-cheek commentary on the most relevant, and just plain wackiest, news stories from around the country.
Poehler returned to co-host, and Governor David Paterson of New York, who was relentlessly mocked on Update for much of last season, made an actual entrance alongside his impersonator, Fred Armisen.
The only new cast member to really get an appearance was Jay Pharaoh, who performed a spot-on impersonation of Will Smith.
SNL had a formidable season premiere. While Poehler’s fantastic range was not utilized fully and some skits were repeated, SNL is set for another tremendous season.