Scot Bertram

SNL Dives Into Politics and a Future President Crashes the Party

Since its inception, Saturday Night Live has been political. But rarely has the show delved into politics more deeply than in Season 41, when President Barack Obama had one foot out of the door, Hillary Clinton was taking a presumptive victory lap, and a group of Republicans was battling to see who would challenge Clinton in 2016.

Clinton herself would show up for a guest spot early in the season, but the real news happened when a future United States president hosted the show while running for the nation’s highest office. Little did anyone know on November 7, 2015, that almost a year to the day later Donald Trump would be elected to the presidency, becoming the first and only chief executive to have hosted SNL. (That is, until we change the Constitution to clear the path for President Bieber.)

We discuss the show’s heavy foray into politics on this episode, plus the battle for cast supremacy between Kate McKinnon and the excellent roster of first time hosts the show brings in (Elizabeth Banks, Ryan Gosling, Adam Driver, Larry David, Ariana Grande, Peter Dinklage, and Brie Larson.)

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