Dave Chappelle’s opening monologue on this week’s Saturday Night Live was a blistering look at white America: funny, insightful, and a total bummer to watch on the day Donald Trump lost his reelection bid. The cold open was not as funny and nowhere near as insightful, but it was a celebration, and that felt pretty good:
Jim Carrey’s otherwise inexplicable Joe Biden impression makes a certain amount of sense as a long lead-up to the Ace Ventura “Loser” bit this week, and although the game wasn’t necessarily worth the candle, it was still pretty satisfying when he finally said the line. As for Alec Baldwin, a sad piano rendition of “Macho Man” was the perfect exit for his Trump impression, and a reminder of how much better most Americans feel today than when Kate McKinnon sang “Hallelujah.” But it was either a case of simultaneous independent development or someone should send Rachel Fisher a check:
SNL does not seem to be the first place to have come up with the idea of having Biden and Harris dancing to “You About to Lose Your Job,” either:
But that’s all for the lawyers to sort out. The bottom line is that things have felt so much more hopeful since the election was called that even a Saturday Night Live cold open—hell, even a Saturday Night Live cold open that seems to lift from viral tweets—feels like it’s part of the nationwide party. Now let’s get back to it.
