World-famous comedian John Mulaney returned to host NBC’s Saturday Night Live (SNL) on Nov. 2 for the fifth episode of the show’s 50th season. He was joined by popstar musical guest Chappell Roan, and Vice President Kamala Harris made an appearance alongside Maya Rudolph during the show’s cold open.
This is Mulaney’s sixth time hosting SNL since he left his position as a writer in 2012. He has become a fan-favorite host over the years, and the combination of him and Chappell Roan as a musical guest quickly gathered a lot of attention for this episode across social media.
To no one’s surprise, the election played a big part in SNL’s content for this episode. The cold open featured imitations of hot topic figures—something SNL has become famous for. This week saw Chloe Fineman as Kaitlan Collins of CNN, James Austin Johnson as Donald Trump, Maya Rudolph as Kamala Harris and other prominent faces in the world of American politics. Vice President Harris joined the show herself with Rudolph to send some final messages to the American people in the days leading up to the election.
John Mulaney then took to the stage for his monologue, which covered topics ranging from family across the generations to his children, getting older and a final reference to his time in rehab. He introduced the episode and welcomed audiences, giving a bit of insight into where his life has been recently in his typical style.
The night started with an election-themed edition of a classic SNL game show sketch, “What’s That Name,” in which characters compete to guess the name of the person shown to them. Another sketch featured a chimp named Beppo, stranded on a space station. Mulaney’s character must break this news to Beppo and explain its effects. This episode also saw Pete Davidson’s return to the show for a Port Authority Duane Reade sketch heavily influenced by the Broadway district and a spoof of a “Full House” Little Richard episode.
Of course, a staple on every SNL broadcast is Weekend Update—a humorous twist on the news and current events of the week. This week’s segment covered closing remarks for the election, Reba McEntire’s political affiliations and some commentary on various interesting pop culture romances.
It wouldn’t be SNL without amazing and talented musical guest stars coming to perform on the show. This episode was no exception, as Chappell Roan had her first performance on the show this week. Interspersed between the comedy sketches, Roan gave audiences two excellent performances—one of “Pink Pony Club,” a popular track from her 2023 album “The Rise and Fall of a Midwest Princess,” and one debuting a new country song titled “The Giver.” Roan put on a great show with a fantastic set, makeup and costumes for both performances, which immediately gained love and attention from her fans across social media.
