Rank:4.5/5
“Saturday Night Live” aired its first episode of 2016 on Saturday.
The first episode of 2016 is set as the 10th episode of season 41, which hasn’t been a great season for the show as a whole. But many fans remained hopefu,l with host Adam Driver, famous for “Star Wars: The Force Awakens” and the HBO hit series “Girls,” and what has proven to be a humorous cast, that the show could produce the refreshing, comedic gold many have been waiting for all season long.
The episode opened with a spoof of the most recent Republican Presidential Primary Debate — an easy choice for SNL since the Republican presidential candidates are easily made fun of and relevant since the debate took place Thursday. The skit included many cast members dressed as the seven Republicans who participated in the debate.
The best performance in the skit was easily cast member Beck Bennett’s impression of former Florida Gov. Jeb Bush, who hasn’t performed well in past debates or in the polls.
Bennett brought humor to the character, who continually became upset with being called “Jebra” by Donald Trump, played by Darrell Hammond. This was, without a doubt, one of the funniest opening skits SNL has had all season long.
Then came the monologue with Driver who came out on stage strangely flailing both arms up in the air to wave at the crowd. But this strangeness is what makes Driver’s character so likeable in “Girls.” The writers for the show used this to their advantage with a lot of weird or strange skits.
Driver’s weirdness puts him at an advantage to excel on the show. Many of the skits were, of course, topical, including a skit about the Arizona Cardinals and Green Bay Packers football game, which ended minutes before the show aired. But there were also the weird skits the writers of SNL came up with. One of them included Driver as the host of an internet video show about cats.
As the show continued, musical guest Chris Stapleton performed two of his well-known country songs. Although many people who watch SNL probably don’t enjoy country music, Stapleton’s performance could’ve made anyone a fan.
Every skit hit the right note but one. It was ironically a spoof of “Undercover Boss” in which Driver played Kylo Ren from “Star Wars,” and went undercover as a technician and found out what Ren’s employees really thought of him.
Former cast member Fred Armisen honored the late David Bowie during the show with a story about how Bowie inspired him to pursue his creative passions.
For a season that has been primarily failing to produce laughs, the new year helped the show turn over a new leaf.