Saturday Night Live began its 44th season with a lengthy cold open featuring Matt Damon as embattled, embittered Supreme Court nominee Brett Kavanaugh and let fly from there. Hosted by Star Wars baddie Adam Driver and featuring polarizing performances by Kanye West — including a show-ending pro-Donald Trump sermon that drew some boos from the Studio 8H crowd but a rave from POTUS — the episode had plenty of talked-about moments. Check out a few below. Teenagers and those bred them understand the power of Fortnite: And here is an amalgam of clips from “Weekend Update,” anchored by SNL head writers and Emmy hosts Michael Che and Colin Jost. They include Che talking about Bill Cosby, Leslie Jones coming out as Serena Williams, Kate McKinnon as Ruth Bader Ginsburg, more Kavanaugh talk and Pete Davidson’s summer. Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg returned to Update for the #SNLPremiere. pic.twitter.com/2TWSBETnlC — Saturday Night Live – SNL (@nbcsnl) September 30, 2018 Speaking of Davidson, SNL addressed his much-talked-about engagement to Ariana Grande and Kyle Mooney’s reactionary “New Look”: Considering Driver’s role in Spike Lee’s BlacKkKlansman, this Neo-Confederate sketch was appropriate: And in case you missed it, here is the cold open featuring Damon as Kavanaugh, Leslie Jones as Fox News’ Harris Faulkner and the ensemble as various and sundry members of the Senate Judiciary Committee:<doc-sep>At the end of one of the most politically divisive days in recent memory, with the Senate voting by a slim majority to confirm Brett Kavanaugh to the US Supreme Court, Saturday Night Live devoted its cold open to a “euphoric” GOP — with nearly all of the regular cast members portraying Republican senators as they celebrated the confirmation in the world’s most symbolic locker room. The sketch opened with Kenan Thompson — as CNN anchor Don Lemon — describing the “somber” mood of the American populace and noting that the day had involved “several cry breaks here at CNN.” Meanwhile, Heidi Gardner and Melissa Villaseñor played CNN reporters conducting postgame-style interviews with the jubilant Republicans, including Beck Bennett as Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell, Kate McKinnon as South Carolina Sen. Lindsey Graham, Pete Davidson as Arizona Sen. Jeff Flake, and Cecily Strong as Maine Sen. Susan Collins. Sen. Mitch McConnell on the Kavanaugh confirmation. #SNL pic.twitter.com/rafJZuJTh2 — Saturday Night Live - SNL (@nbcsnl) October 7, 2018 While the skit satirized the whole group — ”We made a lot of women real worried today, but I’m not getting pregnant so I don’t care,” said McKinnon’s Graham — Collins received extra attention. Collins’s controversial swing vote in favor of Kavanaugh may well reverberate through the Supreme Court for decades, and SNL made it clear how it felt about the crucial role she played in the confirmation — not to mention the lengthy Senate floor speech she gave on Friday, in which she announced her decision. "We couldn't have done it without Susan Collins." — Sen. Lindsey Graham #SNL pic.twitter.com/m1hfjgoWI4 — Saturday Night Live - SNL (@nbcsnl) October 7, 2018 “The last thing I wanted was to make this about me,” said Strong’s Collins. “That’s why I told everyone to tune in at 3 pm. To tell all my female supporters, psych!” “Listen, I think it’s important to believe women until it’s time to stop,” she added. “Now, we’re going to party like it’s 2020, when Susan Rice takes my seat” — a reference to a viral crowdfunding campaign that has already raised $3 million to unseat Collins and install whoever ends up running against her. While pointed, none of the jokes were especially sharp, and they set the tone for what ultimately turned out to be a lackluster episode of SNL. Other political sketches of the evening referenced the new “presidential alert” system and the tight Texas electoral race between Beto O’Rourke and Sen. Ted Cruz — with Cruz played by Beck Bennett in a skit painting him as cursed and incompetent. SNL also took a moment to respond to Kanye West’s awkward pro-Trump speech in last week’s season opener. “What Kanye said after he went off the air last week was one of the worst, most awkward things I’ve ever seen here,” said Pete Davidson, speaking as himself during Weekend Update. “And I’ve seen Chevy Chase speak to an intern.”<doc-sep>Just hours after Brett Kavanaugh was confirmed by the Senate to become a justice of the Supreme Court, “Saturday Night Live” aired its second episode of its 44th season. And it wasted no time taking aim at the decision, starting with a cold open sketch that saw CNN go live inside the GOP locker room. Kenan Thompson played Don Lemon back at the news desk, noting there were quite a few “cry breaks” for the staff, while Heidi Gardner was political correspondent Dana Bash, who categorized the mood in the locker room as “nothing short of euphoric.” “There are quite a few pacemakers being put to the test tonight,” she said. Beck Bennett’s take on Mitch McConnell said, “Everyone’s pumped — from white men over 60 to white men over 70.” Putting the victory in context, he added: “It’s up there with Vietname, for sure. This is historic.” Kate McKinnon reprised her new role as Lindsey Graham give Gardner’s Bash a Kavanaugh World Champion hat and say, “How amazing is this? We made a lot of women real worried today, but I’m not getting pregnant, so I don’t care.” Pete Davidson, Mikey Day and Cecily Strong took on new roles in this sketch, portraying Jeff Flake, Joe Manchin and Susan Collins, respectively. McKinnon’s Graham said they “couldn’t have done it” without Collins. “That’s our girl! Our one girl!” Mooney’s Kennedy popped in to exclaim. Meanwhile, Davidson’s Flake claimed to be “really sad” about the process, “which you can tell from my resting bitch face,” he said before McKinnon slammed a pie in his face. “Seriously, this one is for the fans,” McKinnon said. “They’ve been there for us all week, cheering, screaming outside of our offices. … And I know they agree with us because they’re shouting out ‘Me too. '” Not to be accused of partisan favoritism, “SNL” also spoofed democratic senator Chuck Schumer in the sketch. When asked what went wrong that allowed Kavanaugh to be confirmed, Alex Moffat as Schumer replied, “Well, my doctor thinks it might be sciatica” before shrugging about the actual loss for the blue party, saying, “That’s what we do now.” “We thought this time would be better than the Anita Hill hearing because Dr. Ford was white,” he continued. “Then it turned out Brett Kavanaugh was white too, and we were completely blindsided by that.” But of course, “SNL” wasn’t done with Kavanaugh there. The episode’s “Weekend Update” segment started with Colin Jost pointing out that Kavanaugh was confirmed “50 to 48” and “50 is the lowest number of votes…for a justice in history. But keep in mind it’s also the most ‘yeses’ Kavanaugh has ever heard.” This received a mixed reaction from the studio audience, but Jost was not deterred and did not stray from his script. “Even if you look past Dr. Ford’s testimony — which many people seem to have no trouble doing — Kavanaugh did a bunch of disqualifying stuff just this past week. He basically lied under oath at a job interview to become a judge — that’s like cheating on your wife during your wedding,” Jost said. Jost also commented on Kavanaugh’s op-ed in the Wall Street Journal, pointing out the man said he would be an open-minded judge, with which Jost agreed — “because you’ve got to be pretty open-minded to try a devil’s triangle.” Michael Che said the FBI investigation was “quite ridiculous” but actually had a questions for the five Republican women that voted for Kavanaugh, wondering if they were hostages. “This is not good for any of us — and I say us because if these Republicans don’t care about you, they definitely don’t care about me. If a white lady in tears can’t get justice, then there’s no hope for my black a– in Jordans.” Jost also expressed anger at people like Cory Booker, who called Kavanaugh evil when his first nomination was announced and then had “nowhere to go” when it came out that he was accused of actually evil things. “It’s like seeing OJ do a Hertz commercial in the ’80s and saying, ‘This is the worst thing he’ll ever do,'” he said. Watch the Oct. 6 cold open below: “Saturday Night Live” airs live coast-to-coast Saturdays at 11:30 p.m. ET / 8:30 p.m. PT on NBC.<doc-sep>The confirmation of U.S. Supreme Court Justice Brett Kavanaugh earlier in the day provided plenty of comedic material for "Saturday Night Live." On Saturday, the cold open of the NBC comedy show, which kicked off its 44th season the previous week by roasting a Senate hearing on Kavanaugh, recreated how a Republican victory party for for the jurist, sworn in just a few hours earlier, might unfold. "Republicans read the mood of the country and we could tell that people really wanted Kavanaugh," Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell, played by Beck Bennett, said during the festivities. "Everyone's pumped — from white men over 60 to white men over 70." Asked how he felt about Kavanaugh being sworn in, Sen. Lindsey Graham, played by Kate McKinnon, said, "I'm not getting pregnant, so I don't care." He also said, "Thank the male Lord" for Kavanaugh's ascent to the Supreme Court. The second episode of the season was hosted by "Crazy Rich Asians" actor Awkwafina (born Nora Lum), who told the New York audience she's from Queens. "I am not a crazy rich Asian," she said. "I'm more like a rebuilding-my-credit Asian." She took time during her monologue to thank Lucy Liu for opening doors for Asian Americans in Hollywood. She said that when Liu hosted "SNL" in 2000, she camped outside. "I just wanted to be near the building," Awkwafina said. Not long afterward, a faux commercial explored what would happen if President Donald Trump used the Federal Emergency Management Agency's cellphone "Presidential Alert" system to distribute his Twitter musings to Americans. The skit showed an alert that read: "Warning: White men are under attack." During "Weekend Update," performer Pete Davidson revisited Kanye West's appearance on the show last week. The rapper engaged in an improvised political screed after the broadcast ended, a move that generated international headlines. "What Kanye said after we went off the air last week was one of the worst, like, most awkward things I’ve ever seen here," Davidson said. "And I've seen Chevy Chase speak to an intern." Davidson said West wore a pro-President Trump "Make America Great Again" cap, seen at the end of the program, "all week" during writing and rehearsals. "Kanye said Democrats broke up black families with welfare and that slavery is not real," Davidson said. "Do you know how wrong about politics you have to be for, like, me to notice?" He mocked a West that wanted the world to see "the real me," but Davidson implored him to take whatever "meds" he might need. "There's no shame in the medicine game," he said. "I'm on 'em. ... Being mentally ill is not an excuse to act like a jackass." "Weekend Update" also poked fun at the FBI supplemental investigation into allegations of sexual misconduct against Kavanaugh. The segment aired an edited clip from "Law & Order," in which a suspect is confronted by Det. Olivia Benson, who tells the man his fingerprints were found at the scene of the crime. "I have no idea what you're talking about," the suspect says. "You're free to go," Hargitay says. "Update" co-host Colin Jost described it as "what a 'Law & Order' episode based on this investigation would look like."<doc-sep>
A week after Saturday Night Live opened its 44th season with Matt Damon playing a raucous Supreme Court nominee Brett Kavanaugh when it seemed like sexual harassment allegations might halt his appointment, what in the world were the writers going to do, hours after Kavanaugh was approved by a narrow vote? How about a funereal-feeling skit that replicated the winning and losing locker rooms of the baseball playoffs? The skit opened with the CNN logo and Kenan Thompson as a somber Don Lemon, saying there were protests in Washington, and several cry breaks here at CNN. Cut to Dana Bash, standing in the Republican Senate locker room, where a group of towel snapping, high-fiving senators celebrated their victory and where Bash said, a lot of pacemakers were being put to the test tonight. The revelers included Senator John Kennedy (Kyle Mooney), Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell (Beck Bennett?) who said “Republicans read the mood of the country and we could tell they really wanted Kavanaugh. Everyone from white men over 60 to white men over 70.” He added the victory was right up there with Vietnam. Kate McKinnon’s Lindsay Graham was next, saying “we made a lot of real women really worried today, but I’m not getting pregnant so I don’t care.” Keeping with the baseball parlance, he said they worried it might be tied and they would have to go with their closer, Mike Pence, who would have emerged to Enter The Sandman and throw his vote at 100MPH, but fortunately that wasn’t necessary. He hailed Maine Senator Susan Collins (Cecily Strong), who voted for Kavanaugh and said “it’s important to believe women until it’s time to stop, but also, I’m a guy’s gal, I can party with the big dogs and we are going to have fun tonight. We’re going to party like it’s 2020, when Susan Rice takes my seat.” They trotted out Arizona Senator Jeff Flake (Pete Davidson) who said he was “sorry about the whole thing, which you can tell by my resting bitch face.” But his fellow revelers labeled him “Flake the Snake” as they gave him a pie facial and told him “you were never voting no.” There was a short note from the losing locker room and Senator Chuck Schumer, who took a shot in the nutsack by Senator Joe Manchin, the only Democrat to vote for Kavanaugh. The Republicans vowed to keep “this horny male energy going through the mid-terms.” It was sour grapes writing, but many of the points the writers and cast hit on seemed plausible. Even though the Kavanaugh hearings were high drama, the result was as many felt it was going to be: as long as the Republicans had the votes they needed, they were going to pass through the guy who at least can be relied upon to bring the keg to any Supreme Court party. SNL is hosted by Awkwafina, who came out with a low-energy monologue distinguished mostly by her shout out to Lucy Liu. The star of the sleeper summer hit Crazy Rich Asians, the Queens-raised comedienne said she was the first Asian to host the show in 18 years, with Liu being the last one. On a night when there wasn’t much for women or most reasonable people to laugh about to open the show, that seemed at least some kind of step in the right direction.