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Season 42 of "Saturday Night Live" debuted with "Suicide Squad" star Margot Robbie as host and musical guest The Weeknd.
But both host and musical guest played second banana to the real star of the show, the 2016 presidential election. With only 37 days left before the nation decides between Hillary Clinton and Donald Trump, the show wasted no time reminding viewers of the debate spectacle 84 million witnessed last week.
The show’s cold open set the tone early with a recap of the debate. Kate McKinnon reprised her Clinton act and, as promised in preview teasers, Alec Baldwin wore a scowl underneath a comb-over wig and orange foundation to take on the role of Trump. Baldwin rehashed Trump’s many debate missteps, running the gamut from constant sniffling, Rosie O’Donnell and Sean Hannity to "The thing about the Blacks."
"The thing about the Blacks is that they’re all killing each other," Baldwin said. "They all live on one street in Chicago and it’s called Hell Street."
A giddy, shimmying McKinnon responded, "Can America vote right now?"
Robbie kept the election theme going during her opening monologue. "It’s great to be here in America during this election," the Australian actress said. "This is how you guys really do it? I mean this is nuts. Everybody just lies. It’s crazy." [[395550641, C]]
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One of the episode's early skits, "Family Feud: Political Edition," continued the political trend with "Team Hillary" (Bill Clinton, Sarah Silverman, Bernie Sanders and Lin-Manuel Miranda) taking on "Team Donald" (campaign manager Kellyanne Conway, Ivanka Trump, Gov. Chris Christie and Vladimir Putin).
"Senator Clinton is the prune juice of this election," Larry David said resuming last season's role as Sanders. "If you don’t take her now, you’re gonna be clogged with crap for a very long time."[[395550831, C]]
"Weekend Update" hit the final nail comparing the choice between Clinton and Trump to the choice between the iPhone 7 and Samsung Galaxy. "One feels like it’s being forced on us," Colin Jost said. "The other could explode at any minute." [[395551041, C]]
