DVR'ing the premier in case Louisville/Clemson runs up into it.

Curious to see how the two new cast members hold up. Last season had it's ups and downs, hopefully this one is a little more consistent. Margot Robbie is the host tonight and if anyone is talented (see: attractive) enough to pull off a strong start it's her.

There are actually 3 new cast members: Mikey's Day (he was a writer for the show and was on Wild N Out), Melissa Villaseor (America's Got Talent/popular YouTube Channel), and Alex Moffat (Chicago improviser).

I'm pretty excited for this season. Weekend Update hit its stride last season, so hopefully with the election, they have tons of material to work with.

Also, Chris Kelly and Sarah Schneider are now the head writers. Kelly just wrote and directed a great movie starring Jesse Plemons called Other People which is really good. It also stars Molly Shannon. Warning, it's semi autobiographical about Kelly's life and final year with his mom before she died of cancer. Hilarious moments, but very sad movie. But if you are interested to see what else he is does outside of SNL, I would check it out.

Yeah, I'm most looking forward to what Kelly and Schneider are going to bring to the writing. Best of luck to them.

Will be especially interesting to see next week when they are handed a guest host in Manuel-Miranda who had some comedy chops and will be likely game for anything.

Btw, is the first time in a while (15 years maybe?) that there are head writers not manning the WU desk? So Jost is still anchor but has been demoted from head writer?

I think he stepped down, rather than being demoted, midway through the season last year. But yeah, this is the first time since Quinn that the head writer was not the anchor.

She literally just makes a bug-eyed face, that's her whole shtick

J.P. 03 said:

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Alec Baldwin as Trump was nails.

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I was surprised they got rid of Hammond's Trump (which I thought was really good), but now I see why...Baldwin killed it.

That was a pretty good episode - Kate McKinnon as the old school MGM actress in the last skit was so weird and wonderful. I'm pretty sure they held the camera on her because the other women were laughing.

Baldwin was nails as trump. My guess is they brought him so Hammond could continue to play Bill Clinton.

I thought the "fact check" monologue was a bit boring, but other than that a decent episode. Robbie did good and is also not ugly.

I thought Robbie did great. She was fantastic as Ivanka. Actress round table was funny, and Librarian skit was good too. Cold open was great, they can never go wrong with doing a Clinton/Trump debate bit. However, Kate McKinnon carries this show right now. I hope she sticks around for a long time.

I thought weekend update was average, but the whole show came to a screeching halt when Che sided with Kaep on the anthem stuff. Just felt awkward.

WestTexasAg14 said:

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I thought Robbie did great. She was fantastic as Ivanka. Actress round table was funny, and Librarian skit was good too. Cold open was great, they can never go wrong with doing a Clinton/Trump debate bit. However, Kate McKinnon carries this show right now. I hope she sticks around for a long time.

I thought weekend update was average, but the whole show came to a screeching halt when Che sided with Kaep on the anthem stuff. Just felt awkward.

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That's through your own viewpoint, I thought it was no more awkward than it normally is.

corndog04 said:

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Robbie did good and is also not ugly.

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Would.
(Even in the Librarian sketch.)

FtBendTxAg said:

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I'm very outspoken about how terrible Weekend Update is, but at this point it's pretty obvious Jost or Che have blackmail material on Lorne. Jost is one of the most unfunny dewshes in the history of the show. And Che is one of most forgettable. To me, wknd update has always been an anchor/strong point of the show, but these guys have completely and utterly ruined it.

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I would be interested in Che by himself potentially. Jost is stunningly unfunny with zero charisma or charm. How they can't see this is baffling.

As you said, Update was the anchor of the episode, and most would watch saying "well I'll at least stay up through Update" if a skit missed in that first half hour. Not any more.

Quote:

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Btw, is the first time in a while (15 years maybe?) that there are head writers not manning the WU desk? So Jost is still anchor but has been demoted from head writer?

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I think Jimmy Fallon was hosting WU by himself at one point and he wasn't ever head writer was he?

It's a shame that Mulaney never got a shot at WU host.

Last night started strong but fizzled. I fell asleep during weekend update i think.

easttexasaggie04 said:

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Last night started strong but fizzled. I fell asleep during weekend update i think.

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Needed more cow bell

Btron said:

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Leslie Jones big skit the mr robot sketch, has her playing Leslie Jones. She is the worst and the weakest actor

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She is the literal worst

She's quite literally the worst snl cast memeber of all time tied with Jost

I will say that this skit was hysterical

http://www.hulu.com/watch/989177

Another solid episode! Monologue was probably my favorite of the night, but there wasn't anything that was bad. Closest thing to bad was Fallon's character on update.

TajMaballer said:

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Another solid episode! Monologue was probably my favorite of the night, but there wasn't anything that was bad. Closest thing to bad was Fallon's character on update.

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Yeah, he still can't stop himself from breaking.

He also clearly can't do a philly accent. Tina Feys was prefect.

Baldwin's Trump is scary!

Love Emily Blunt but thought last night's episode was very hit or miss.

Vanessa Bayer's kid news anchor killed it as always, though... "Billy Bush said bad things, and my mom said he might get 10 million dollars... FROM THIS NETWORK!"

The fast food drive thru bit was just wasted time.

Clavell said:

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The fast food drive thru bit was just wasted time.

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Yeah, I would definitely put that in the "miss" category.

Clavell said:

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The fast food drive thru bit was just wasted time.

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Totally agree, but I was curious how they made that limo, especially on such a small stage.