Saturday Night Live was back with its first in-studio show in more than six months. The 46th season kicked off with Chris Rock hosting and opened with a sketch (watch above) about the first presidential debate. Alec Baldwin was back as Donald Trump and Jim Carrey debuted his impersonation of Joe Biden. Variety writes:
Carrey’s Biden walked out on the debate stage in dark-tinted aviator sunglasses, mugging for the crowd by adjusting his tie and offering finger guns. He also pulled out a tape measure to check the distance between the podiums and pull his back a few inches as needed. Although the real-life Trump did not reportedly test positive for COVID-19 until Wednesday, hindsight allowed the series to work some commentary about the virus into this sketch.
Chris Rock also addressed Trump’s diagnosis in his monologue saying, “President Trump is in the hospital from COVID, and I just want to say my heart goes out to COVID.”
‼️ @chrisrock ‼️ #SNLPremiere pic.twitter.com/pgS8L1uZOM
— Saturday Night Live – SNL (@nbcsnl) October 4, 2020
In an unusually emotional moment for the comedy sketch show, Kate McKinnon appeared as the late Ruth Bader Ginsburg. It’s a role she has played many times before. It was a brief moment at the end of Weekend Update, but powerful. The camera simply flashed to the audience where McKinnon put her hand on her heart and bowed, followed by a graphic on the screen that read “Rest in Power.”
Beautiful. Kate McKinnon and #SNL pay tribute to Ruth Bader Ginsburg. pic.twitter.com/Z8Ds8HLQDQ
— Greg Hogben (@MyDaughtersArmy) October 4, 2020