Is There a New ‘SNL’ Episode Airing This Week?

The Wrap

Published

“SNL” is back, now in its 46th season. The most recent new episode, which aired on November 7, was hosted by Dave Chappelle, with the Foo Fighters as the musical guest. The cold open saw Jim Carrey and Maya Rudolph take the stage as Joe Biden and Kamala Harris, respectively, to gloat about Biden’s decisive election victory over Donald Trump. And yeah, Alec Baldwin showed up as Trump to play piano and sing a very sad version of “Macho Man” by the Village People.

Along with Jim Carrey joining up to play Joe Biden, Alec Baldwin is once again playing Donald Trump in season 46 of “SNL.” This is the fifth season in which Baldwin will play Trump. In season 45 he made eight total appearances across the 18 episodes of the shortened season — including in two of the three quarantine episodes.

Even with it looking like Trump is on the way out we probably shouldn’t expect Baldwin to go away completely just yet — since Trump isn’t actually leaving office until January, and he’s continuing to protest his own election failure in the meantime.

*Also Read:* 'SNL' Celebrates Biden's Victory, Baldwin's Trump Sings 'Macho Man' Sadly (Video)

And the good news for those who have enjoyed Carrey as Biden is, well, it looks like we’ll be seeing a lot more of him over the next four years.

And the same goes for Maya Rudolph as Kamala Harris this season. The former “SNL” cast member should be around a lot this year, and I think that’s something just about everybody who watches the sketch show can get behind.

This week, on Saturday, Dec. 5, *there WILL be a new episode of “SNL.”* After taking the past three weekends off — understandable, after the show started off this season with an unprecedented six straight weeks of episodes — “SNL” is finally back with an episode hosted by Jason Bateman, with Morgan Wallen as the musical guest.

This is, perhaps shockingly, only the second time Bateman has hosted “SNL,” with his previous gig coming way back in 2005.

For Wallen, it’ll be his first time, and second attempt. He was originally booked for the show back in October but got himself canceled by breaking NBC’s COVID-19 rules by attending a crowded party. Fortunately for Wallen, they’re giving him another shot.

*Also Read:* 'SNL': Adele Can't Stop Cracking Up at Kate McKinnon Saying 'Tribesmen' (Video)

You can be pretty sure this season of “SNL” be very political for the full stretch. This is an election year, and an impossibly hectic one at that, so it’s been hard for any of us to think about anything other than politics. And, well, not many folks are really expecting things to calm down all that much even now that we’re past Election Day.

The premiere episode came out hard with political commentary, with the debate cold open, a very political monologue from Chris Rock, and a stunned discussion of Trump’s COVID-19 infection from Michael Che on Weekend Update.

And “SNL” hasn’t slowed down with its political content, with each cold open in season 46 being about the election. After that debate sketch in the premiere, we got two other debate sketches, one for the VP candidates and one other for the presidential candidates, as well as one about the dueling town halls from when Trump was infected with COVID-19 and refused to submit to safety measures.

*Also Read:* 'SNL' Cold Open Gives Alec Baldwin's Trump Town Hall the Wrestlemania Treatment (Video)

“SNL” tried to drift away from that political focus during season 44, but certainly didn’t shy away from politics in season 45 — a season in which the actual Elizabeth Warren popped up to play herself in a sketch.

The renewed focus on politics in season 45 was not just about mocking Trump, but also lampooning the circus that was the run up to the Democratic primaries. Not that the sketch show has in any way shied away from mocking Trump. The impeachment has certainly been a common topic for cold open sketches this season.

There was the one where Baldwin’s Trump went through his contacts list trying to find a fixer who could make the impeachment stop, ending with a call to Liev Schreiber playing himself — Trump thought his character Ray Donovan, a fixer on the eponymous Showtime series, was actually a real person.

There was also that one where “SNL” sent up the impeachment hearings by doing a “Days of Our Lives” parody that starred Jon Hamm.

*Also Read:* 'SNL': Maya Rudolph Moderates Last Debate With Jim Carrey and Alec Baldwin as a Drinking Game (Video)

As for the madness with the Democratic primary, we had numerous big cameos in the debate sketches in season 45. The show tried out multiple different Joe Bidens last year, with Woody Harrelson taking up the role a couple times and Jason Sudeikis giving it a shot as well.

They also brought in many other celebs to play other candidates in the Dem primary, including Lin-Manuel Miranda as Julian Castro, Larry David as Bernie Sanders, Rachel Dratch as Amy Klobuchar, Fred Armisen as Michael Bloomberg, and Will Ferrell as Tom Steyer. Maya Rudolph also played Kamala Harris a few times, and it was only natural that they’d keep her around for season 46.

That’s a lot of cameos, and “SNL” actually managed to jam nearly all of those folks into a single sketch — a 12-minute debate parody from a late November episode. Miranda did not appear in that one, but he had previously popped up as Castro in October in a parody of the Democrats’ LGBTQ town hall that was moderated by Billy Porter in character as himself.

Full Article