<em>SNL</em> Takes a Much-Needed Break From Politics

For a few merciful moments during last night’s episode of , viewers were offered a rare distraction from the fact that the nation is barreling toward . When Issa Rae, the evening’s host, stepped onto the stage for her opening monologue, I breathed a sigh of relief—in no small part because that meant the “” cold open was over. That skit had eased the audience into the night’s antics with another satirical installment of conflict between presidential candidates: The narrator described the split-screen viewing experience as “trying to decide between a Hallmark movie and an alien autopsy.” The segment delivered on its characterization of President Donald Trump’s town hall as a “thirst trap” laid out for him by NBC—midway through, viewers got a replay of the bizarre moment when a South Florida voter began her question for Trump , “You’re so, Maya Rudolph’s Senator Kamala Harris joking about mimosas, and Jim Carrey’s former Vice President Joe Biden breaking into an impromptu sing-along, the skit felt much like the rest of ’s recent political commentary—tepid, tedious, and woefully inadequate given the cataclysmic state of the country. As my colleague of the Season 46 premiere earlier this month, “The show’s return to a standard format makes clear that its brand of topical satire simply won’t be enough for the chaotic months of pandemic and election uncertainty that lie ahead of us.”