SNL

Long before Sean Spicer started hiding in the bushes to escape the press, SNL fans knew Melissa McCarthy’s return would be brutal. Ol’ Spicey’s already in the spotlight for SNL’s penultimate Season 42 promo, as McCarthy dances through Studio 8H.

It made sense of SNL to hire Melissa McCarthy for a fifth hosting gig, rather than rely on a weekly Sean Spicer impression. Nonetheless, our first live coast-to-coast SNL show managed to coax McCarthy’s Spicer out for Easter, and with an intriguing twist at that.

If perhaps SNL seemed to be sleeping on the job with its two-hosts-per-month in 2017, they had good reason. Not only have the final four hosts been announced, including Jimmy Fallon, Melissa McCarthy and The Rock, but shows will air live across the country for the first time in history.

The rumors are true: SNL is taking Weekend Update out for a primetime spin once more. Seeing as today’s news is never not in need of incisive comedy, Colin Jost and Michael Che will end their summer breaks early to bring new half-hour Weekend Update episodes to NBC.

In the election’s immediate aftermath, we had to wonder if Alec Baldwin had the SNL commitment to keep playing Trump as necessary for such a weekly target. Baldwin’s been a sport since November, even pivoting the impression into other mediums, but may hang up the wig before long . “I don’t [know] how much more people can take it.”

It’s about that time of the season when SNL starts sketching out its final weeks, and with it tends to come a bit of turnover. Speculation most frequently points to senior cast member Kenan Thompson, but a new CBS pilot suggests that Bobby Moynihan may actually leave Studio 8H after Season 42.

Schwing! Party time! Excellent! We‘re not worthy, we’re not worthy!

The days of SNL’s traditional promo may be behind us, as Benedict Cumberbatch, Dave Chappelle and now Kristen Wiig have all donned new formats to promote their respective hosting gigs. And while we’re at it, SNL was bound to do the “mannequin challenge” sooner or later, so let’s just play this one out as quick as possible, okay?

For good or ill, perhaps no comedy series has benefit so much from Donald Trump as SNL. Following weeks of debate sketches, most everyone wondered how the late-night staple would react to Trump actually succeeding to the presidency, for which this weekend’s cold open brought Kate McKinnon’s Hillary out; both in tribute to Leonard Cohen, and to offer a moving “Hallelujah” going forward.

We’re still not entirely certain how SNL will fare with controversial (if revered) comedian Dave Chappelle hosting the first post-election episode, but at least the end of November looks a bit more familiar. Kristen Wiig will make her second return to SNL, hosting the final installment of this long, gloomy month.