‘SNL’ Returns With Maya Rudolph’s Kamala Harris and an Ace Lineup of Election Impressions

James Austin Johnson returned as Donald Trump, predictably shouting about Haitians eating cats and dogs and forcing them to attend Diddy’s freak-offs. But it was SNL’s decision to tap Bowen Yang as Trump’s vice-presidential pick, J.D. Vance, that will likely drive their campaign crazy. Being played by a gay Asian who likely knows his way around an eyeliner should eat those weirdos up. And it nicely sets up a future cold open between Gaffigan’s Dog Lover and Yang’s Cat Hater post next week’s VP debate.

Yang, the night’s MVP alongside Rudolph, would play another baby hippo later in the evening. During Weekend Update, Yang stuffed himself into a shimmery rubber suit and flapped his little hooves to bemoan the travails of Moo Deng. Playing the most famous 10-week-old zoo animal in the world, Yang delivered a near verbatim version of Chappell Roan’s monologue of depression and frustration. It was pointed without being nasty. My 16-year-old Chappell Roan fan and I rewound the scene of Yang’s hippo demanding “Hose!” and biting at the water spray more than a few times. Hang in there, young stars. You deserve better than whatever versions of shellfish and bananas are being slung at you in this wild moment of stratospheric attention.

No matter who the host of the premiere was, she was bound to be overshadowed by the onslaught of the summer’s insane headlines. And so it was with emcee Jean Smart, who cut an elegant and snappy figure throughout the episode if not a particularly memorable one. Her monologue began with a couple of ba dum tss a la her Hacks character, Deborah Vance—jokes that are more stylish lines meant to be chortled over expensive martinis—before switching quickly into a tenderly delivered rendition of Judy Garland’s “I Happen to Like New York.” Speaking of tender: how could we not cheer at the sight of her Hacks co-star (and daughter of original SNL star Laraine Newman) Hannah Einbinder standing lovingly at her side as Smart introducer musical guest Jellyroll’s first performance?

No, this was a premiere that had to hit the most absurd and inescapable beats of the last couple of months: Sabrina Carpenter’s “Espresso,” the Turkish shooter at the Olympics, the chimp from Chimp Crazy, the downfall of Diddy, the indictment of New York’s Mayor Eric Adams, the disgrace of North Carolina’s Lt. Governor Mark Robinson, Hoda Kotb stepping down from the Today show, Trump on Mars, Charli XCX as a cultural thought leader.

For all its pinballing around recent events, SNL decided to end with a sketch of sudsy goodness. Smart played one of the Real Housewives of Santa Fe as the women took their feuding to the Rancho Mexicano cantina. They took turns swiping at the legitimacy of one another’s egopreneurial endeavors. “So now Candles by Brie is not a business?!” “Tell me how Hats by Yvonne is not a business?!” “So now for-profit prisons are not a business?!” It’s good to laugh.