Rating: 4/5 stars

“Saturday Night Live” premiered its historic 50th season on Sept. 28, hosted by recent Emmy-winner Jean Smart (“Hacks”), featuring musical guest, Jelly Roll (“Whitsitt Chapel”). 

The famed sketch show recently was found to be a target for frustration after firing new cast member Chloe Troast and the departure of Molly Kearny and Punky Johnson, who were becoming fan favorites. However, the show has managed to keep the comedy alive without Troast and Kearny. 

The cold open poked fun at both presidential candidates and their running mates. Alongside current cast members Marcello Hernandez (anchor), James Austin Johnson (Donald Trump) and Bowen Yang (JD Vance) were alumni Maya Rudolph (Kamala Harris), Andy Samberg (Doug Emhoff) and Dana Carvey (Joe Biden). Comedian Jim Gaffigan (Tim Walz) joined the alumni, making his SNL debut. The group sparked an outpouring of cheers from the audience. Most surprising was Carvey, who was on the show from 1986 to 1993, is best known for his characters of former President George H.W. Bush, Garth on “Wayne’s World” and The Church Lady, but has distanced himself from SNL. 

Smart charmed the audience throughout the show, notably in the first sketch “$100,000 Pyramid: Celebrity Edition,” where she played Tonia Haddix, the subject of the Hulu documentary, “Chimp Crazy.” Smart was partnered with Chloe Fineman’s Hailey Welch, aka “The Hawk Tuah Girl” as they struggle against Marcello Hernandez’s Bad Bunny and Kenan Thompson’s Lt. Gov. Mark Robinson. Welch and Bad Bunny hilariously struggled to get correct answers out of their partners as they responded with the source of their controversy; for Haddix, it is only replying in monkey-related terms. 

Smart also generated laughs with her “History of the Sitcom” sketch with Marcello Hernandez. The two played the iconic couple of Lucy and Ricky Ricardo from “I Love Lucy.” The twist? Smart plays Lucy as a dramatic actor against the comedy of the light-hearted show. 

Another highlight was “Weekend Update” with seasoned anchors Colin Jost and Michael Che. As always, their jokes and dark jokes prodded at current politics, narrowly skirting network censorship. Bowen Yang rolled to the desk as Moo Deng, the mischievously adorable baby hippo who has gone viral for her antics. The hippo complained about becoming famous so quickly, referencing Chappell Roan’s struggle with fame. The singer has recently become the topic of controversy from fans due to canceling shows and taking a step back from the spotlight to care for her mental and physical wellbeing. 

“Update” also welcomed New York City Mayor Eric Adams (Devon Walker) to discuss his federal indictment with Che. Walker got a lot of laughs from the audience as he described what Adams has done for the city: “I’ve spent every single day with the working people of our city, alright? The dancers, the bottle girls, Phat Joe and they say the same thing: thank you for bringing the swagger back to this city. What was once a swag-less dump is now a swag-tropolis with significantly more crime than before.” Che then pointed out that part of Adams’s platform was getting crime off the streets of New York City, to which he responded: “Yes. I got crime off the streets and onto the sidewalks and the subways.” Overall, “Weekend Update” was the show’s sweet spot. Jost and Che rarely let down with their strong and relevant jokes.

Five-year veteran of the show, Bowen Yang was outstanding in his appearances. Other than portraying Moo Deng, he made a splash as Charli XCX hosting a segment called “The Talk Talk Show,” featuring Sarah Sherman as Troye Sivan. XCX first welcomed Susan Bartsch (Jean Smart) and CNN anchor Kaitlan Collins (Chloe Fineman) to make political commentary, but are instead met with questions that become party-related, asking Kaitlan Collins if she has ever done ketamine before the two are ushered off stage and replaced with Congresswoman Jasmine Crockett (Ego Nwodim). The singer gushes over Crockett and as opposed to naming her “brat,” narrows it down to a song off the album, “Mean girls.” The reasoning behind it is Crockett calling Congresswoman Marjorie Taylor Greene a “bleach blonde, bad-built, butch body.” Nwodim as Crockett goes on to insult other current political figures in a similar manner before the segment ends with XCX telling the audience to “stay brat, America!” 

Rapper Jelly Roll was welcomed to the stage twice during the show by host Jean Smart and her “Hacks” co-star Hannah Einbinder, daughter of original SNL cast member Laraine Newman. His set began with his single released “Liar,” which featured backup singers and accompaniment of several guitarists and a drummer. The singer was tense as he took the stage, the subject of his pieces both starkly contrasting the humor of the show. Near the end of his first set, Jelly Roll attempted to loosen up and celebrate with the crowd, shouting “We’re on Saturday Night Live, baby!” during an instrumental break. For the second set, the rapper returned full of emotion with the same backing as the first. “Winning Streak” was a powerful performance given straight from the heart. Jelly Roll’s voice was earnest and warm as he sang about the struggles of addiction and the challenges of overcoming it.  “Hold on, hold on” are the words the piece leaves with listeners. 

The show concluded with a disappointing sketch titled “The Real Housewives of Santa Fe,” which follows the women of the cast and Jean Smart as they argue about defining business over dinner. A highlight of the sketch was popular cast member Heidi Gardner making her second appearance of the night as she discusses her makeup line. The overall jokes, however, are not outright funny. The chaos of the wives fighting grows awkward as Hernandez tries to deliver food to their table. Hernandez’s waiter adds unnecessary chaos, relying more on the physical aspect of comedy as opposed to the jokes.

Despite the failure of the final sketch, the energy remained as Smart, Jelly Roll, the cast and alumni gathered on stage for goodnights, Maya Rudolph and Dana Carvey once again receiving most of the praise. Although the cold open was the show’s apex, the sketches had solid structures that can only improve as the season reaches its 50th anniversary show scheduled for Feb. 16.

Image by Saturday Night Live via Youtube