Saturday Night Live review: Alec Baldwin’s Trump talks the wall, real Trump fires back

First-time host Don Cheadle took the stage this week as the host, and Gary Clark Jr. was the musical guest. Plus, Alec Baldwin returned as Donald Trump.

Saturday Night Live just keeps the good shows coming. This week, Don Cheadle, who’s been acting for 30 years, hosted SNL for the first time. Yes, I was baffled by that, too. But, indeed, 2019 marks the first time Hotel Rwanda, Boogie Nights, and Fresh Prince of Bel Air guest actor (more on that in the monologue) Don Cheadle has hosted SNL. 

On the good side, SNL had a variety of great sketches that included Cheadle. On the bad side, none of those included an Avengers parody sketch. Cheadle did mention the Avengers in his monologue, though, so that will hold me over until they actually do another parody sketch.

But, the news-making sketch of the week is the cold open, in which Alec Baldwin returned as Donald Trump to parody the national emergency press conference. Read on for more on that, including three-must see sketches from the night.

Cold Open

Live from the Rose Garden, it’s Saturday Night! I was left unpleased with last week’s cold open, but this time, they totally nailed it. Trump’s “fake national emergency” speech this week was already a rollercoaster of a speech. But when you throw in Alec Baldwin as Trump to take questions from the press, you’ve got something great.

Unfortunately, the president himself wasn’t so impressed. Following SNL, Donald Trump responded to the sketch, once again totally unfazed by the fact that SNL is a parody show that makes fun of real-life events.

When Donald Trump hosted SNL, did he think all that stuff was real? I’m lost here.

Monologue

Mark this down as an enjoyable monologue. As most of the monologues go, his was reminiscent of a standup routine bit and drew a good couple of laughs from me. He talked about his career as an actor, being recognized as a celebrity on the street, and his love for his New York fans. You can’t go wrong with that!

Weekend Update

It’s starting to be clear who really wrote The Art of the Deal here, Nancy Pelosi and Chuck Schumer, because they’re beating Trump at his own game. Kate McKinnon and Alex Moffat are back as Pelosi and Schumer, and they’re having a bit of a victory, despite the whole “national emergency” going on. In reality, Pelosi and Schumer know they own Trump, and in this sketch, they can’t help but show it.

Three must-see sketches

Family Feud: Oscar Nominees

It wouldn’t be an SNL review if a Kenan Thompson sketch didn’t make it on here. This time, Family Feud is back, and they’re pitting Oscar newbies against the movie veterans. The top performances go to Melissa Villaseñor for her Lady Gaga impression and Kate McKinnon for her uber-dramatic Glenn Close impression. Half points to Pete Davidson as Rami Malek because he tried.

Extreme Baking Championship

Anyone who loves watching baking competition shows is bound to love this. I don’t want to give too much away, but by the thumbnail alone, you can see at least one contestant literally has no clue what they’re doing. Actually, if you’re a fan of Nailed It, you will definitely love this sketch.

Fresh Takes

The awkward high school news show is back! While I simply cannot buy that Mikey Day could be a high school freshman, in acting, it’s all about the character. And the SNL crew really brought you back to those awkward freshman high school days. Add in Don Cheadle being that weird teacher that somehow got hired at your school, and things are extra accurate to the high school experience.

Saturday Night Live won’t be back next week. But they will return on March 2 with a returner host, John Mulaney, and musical guest Thomas Rhett.