Sophia Michaels
The 48th season of Saturday Night Live kicked off with a heavy dose of self-referential humor, with ESPN’s ManningCast analyzing the late night show’s cold open.
With first-time guest host Miles Teller as Peyton Manning and Andrew Dismukes as brother Eli, the pair dissected a scene from Mar-a-Lago as if it were Monday Night Football.
“Oh good, a Trump sketch,” Teller deadpanned as James Austin Johnson reprised his role as the former president. “Way to mix it up.”
When Teller asked for a “fun impression” like Anthony Fauci, Lindsey Graham or Rudy Giuliani, Dismukes replied, “Well, those are all Kate McKinnon.”
McKinnon was one of several cast members of NBC’s late night fixture who departed after last season, with Aidy Bryant, Pete Davidson and Kyle Mooney leaving as well. Also not returning were Chris Redd, Melissa Villaseñor, Alex Moffat and Aristotle Athari.
“This show’s in a rebuilding year for sure,” Teller said. Indeed, SNL creator Lorne Michaels acknowledged at last month’s Emmys that “this will be a transition year,” Entertainment Weekly reported.
“Let’s take a look at the stats so far,” he continued. “14 attempted jokes this episode, only one mild laugh and three chuckles.”
“Thank God they’ve got Kendrick Lamar,” Teller quipped later, “because that’s the only reason anyone is tuning in.”
Before the cold open wrapped, Shaun White and Jon Hamm each made a surprise appearance.
“Shaun White — that is just gratuitous stunt casting,” Teller said of the Olympic gold medalist snowboarder, who played the role of special master handling Trump’s Mar-a-Lago documents.
“Well sometimes they need to bring in a real celebrity when the host isn’t that famous. I mean, when they couldn’t get the star of the big summer movie, your Tom Cruise or your Jon Hamm, they had to get the co-star,” digged Hamm, who appeared in Top Gun: Maverick with Teller and Cruise.
“Well I heard they rarely put the host in cold opens,” Teller shot back, “so when they do, it is special.”
