After of a week that saw MAGA’s political fangs knocked out by a big blue sock to jaw in the midterms, Saturday Night Live tonight leaped into the ring and started swinging from the cold open get-go.
In fact, they went Texas BBQ hot with newly elected James Talarico showing up.
Taking another Donald Trump “Talafreako” jab on the chin, the Senator-elect mocked his successful campaign’s relentless emails hitting everyone up for a $5 donation. For a Texan who spent a lot of time in Hollywood fundraisers this year in what many thought at first was a long shot in flipping GOP rule in the Lone Star state, Talarico also displayed some pretty good acting chops and fine comic timing.
Like the midterms themselves, it wasn’t obvious at first just how good this cold open was going to end up.
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“This is the Dream Team right here,” bellowed Sarah Sherman’s Sen. Chuck Shumer at the Capitol Hill Dems’ post-midterms victory party alongside Speaker-designate Hakeem Jeffries (Kenan Thompson) in the opening seconds. “Not to take credit for the win, that was all me,” the SNL’s very prominent forehead version of soon-to-be Senate Majority Leader declared in what was an almost classic cold open line because of its sheer untruthfulness.
Of course, this being SNL and this still being the Trump 2.0 era, it looked like with all the cast members in action (including James Austin Johnson as Donald Trump and Colin Jost as Defense Secretary Pete “Do I look like a person who gets less crazy when backed into a corner?” Hegseth), the show was going to play it safe-ish and true to form.
And, as SNL was delayed again on NBC on the West Coast due to college football, things took a turn.
Talarico showed up to a cheer from the studio audience, and everything froze, literally and figuratively.
“Mr. President, if we can work together, we can make life better for everyday Americans,” the real Talarico said onstage to the fake pols. “it’s clear people want something new. They want something different. I’m talking, of course, about SNL‘s cold opens. How many of these Trump freezers are they going to do?”
To which Johnson’s Trump honestly replied: “Infinity.”
In case you were unaware, Democrats hit Team Trump hard and historically Tuesday as the nation voted in midterms that were a referendum on Trump’s second term in all but name. Alaska and Mississippi are still undecided, but otherwise the Dems surprisingly flipped seven Senate seats to take a majority of 54 in the upper chamber. In the House of Representatives, in what was less of a shocker but still stunning, Jeffries will become the first Black Speaker in American history with Democrats now holding 254 seats to the GOP’s 162.
Those big blue wins in once solid red Texas and South Carolina, plus the nation’s first Muslim Senator being elected in Michigan and the America’s first openly gay man being elected as the junior Senator from New Hampshire, were almost overshadowed by Democrats’ state victories. Shattering 30 years of Republican rule with Talarico taking LBJ’s old seat back for the Dems, the Lone Star state also elected its first Latina governor. New Mexico voted in the first Native American female governor in the nation’s history and Georgia elected America’s first Black female governor. Add to that, California elected its first Latino governor and Florida voted in its first Black governor.
RELATED: Amid The Blue Tsunami, A Night Of Many Firsts In Midterm Elections
Among other firsts, the success of Republican Bryon Donalds, plus Democrats Xavier Becerra, Keisha Lance Bottoms, Deb Haaland and Gina Hinojosa would have been the big story in any other America but this one. After a couple of days of appearing reasonable, the crazy returned to Trump with the elevating of Stephen Miller to White House chief of staff on Friday and seemingly tongue-in-cheek offering of the Press Secretary gig today to UFC boss Dana White.
Honestly, there have been terrible cold opens, and there have been a few great cold opens already this season, but how can one reasonably expect SNL scribes to keep up with the pace and pugnaciousness of America right now?
That’s why it was brilliant to bring in the Democrat from Texas.
From Kamala Harris to Hillary Clinton and many more, Democrats are nothing new on SNL in recent years. However, the unannounced Talarico appearance threw everyone’s game off, in the right way.
On another note, coming off a season ratings high with last week’s Inde Navarrette-hosted show, tonight marked the SNL fronting debut of Druski. SNL creator Lorne Michaels was in many ways playing both ends of the 21st century so far with the fifth show of the NBC late-nighter’s 52nd season. YouTube comic Druski (who has a Netflix special coming up next month) may have been the host, but it was George W Bush-era upstarts The Strokes who are the musical act this week.
Putting that in perspective, it is almost 25 years since The Strokes made their SNL debut. Between that January 19, 2002 performance and tonight, the NYC band has been on SNL five times so far.
Leading into the Thanksgiving holiday, next week’s show will see the return of John Mulaney as host with Phoebe Bridgers as musical guest. After that, SNL is off until December 4, which is the start of Hanukkah.