“I was the proudest, drunkest virgin you’ve ever seen! And everyone can relate to that!"
'Saturday Night Live' returned to NBC for its 44th season on Saturday with Adam
Driver as host, and the long-running sketch show wasted no time tackling what
was undoubtedly the biggest news of the week.
“Oh hell yeah”
That’s right, Matt Damon made a guest appearance as a very bro-y Brett Kavanaugh
with cast members Cecily Strong and Alex Moffat playing senators Dianne Feinstein
and Chuck Grassley, respectively. Former cast member Rachel Dratch also made
a cameo as Senator Amy Klobuchar. Damon’s Kavanaugh seemed to have one thing
on his mind...
“I’m a keg is half full kind of guy!”
That, of course, was a dig at the number of times the real Kavanaugh mentioned
beer during his hearing on Thursday and the beer jokes continued throughout
Damon’s sketch along with plenty of references to Kavanaugh’s calendars which
supposedly prove he was not in attendance at the party where he allegedly assaulted
Dr Christine Blasey Ford.
“I’ve got these calendars! These beautiful, creepy calendars!”
A cardboard cutout of Alyssa Milano, who attended the hearing as a guest of
Feinstein and sat behind Kavanaugh, also made an appearance. After this aired,
Milano herself tweeted a screenshot of the cardboard's appearance with the
hashtag #SNL. Meanwhile, Aidy Bryant portrayed prosecutor Rachel Mitchell, who was
referred to as the “female assistant,” “stewardess” and “Ms. Frizzle” during the sketch.
“I cannot believe I flew here on SouthWest for this!”
And The Kavanaugh mockery did not stop after the cold open, instead becoming
a recurring theme throughout the shows season premiere. "Weekend Update"
dealt almost exclusively with Kavanaugh, with co-anchors Colin Jost and Michael Che
also choosing to lean into the Supreme Court nominees frequent references to beer
and his calendars in his Senate Judiciary Committee testimony.
“You’re not really helping yourself in a drunken assault case when you yell about
how much you like drinking and how strong you were at the time”
Che also pointed out the fairly sobering fact that “all of this yelling and crying happened
at this dude’s job interview” before providing this reminder:
“I mean typically, when you’re asked about a sexual assault and your drinking problem at
a job interview, you don’t get the damn job!”
In non-Kavanaugh related news, the show also provided plenty of laughs by way of
cast member Pete Davidson’s whirlwind engagement to Ariana Grande. From
Driver’s opening monologue,
“Actually, you’re the one person whose summer I really want to hear about”
To a sketch which saw Davidson pitted against fellow cast member Kyle Mooney, who
felt he was being overshadowed by his friend’s sudden fame…..
To an appearance on “Weekend Update”
"God forbid we split up and she takes half my sneakers,"
It seemed everyone, including Davidson himself, wanted to poke fun at the cute coupling.
And, of course, we couldn’t talk about SNL’s season premiere without mentioning
the shows musical guest - none other than Kanye West himself. The rapper's
performances were interesting, to say the least, as he appeared as a giant Perrier
bottle beside fellow performer Lil Pump, dressed as a Fiji bottle, for a performance of
"I Love It"
and then donning a “Make America Great Again" hat for his final performance of the night.
West also gave a pro-Trump speech while wearing the MAGA hat in a segment
that was cut from the broadcast at the end of the show. Prompting boos from the
audience, West said:
The rapper and mogul then briefly alluded to plans of running for political office in 2020.
All in all, it was a successful season opener for the iconic sketch show with
NBC averaging a 2.3 rating among adults 18-49 - a 10 percent lift from a year ago.
SNL’s 44th season continues next week with Akwafina hosting, while former head
writer and cast member Seth Meyers will host on Oct. 13.
To read more on this story, head to THR.com.
For The Hollywood Reporter News, I’m Lyndsey Rodrigues.