October 3, 2020 Season 46 episode
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| Episode | 890 |
| Season Episode | 1 |
| Host | Chris Rock |
| Musical Guest(s) | Megan Thee Stallion |
| Song(s) performed by Musical Guest(s) |
"Savage" "Don't Stop" with Young Thug |
| Previous Episode May 9, 2020 (Season 45) |
Next Episode October 10, 2020 |
The 890th episode overall and the season premiere of Season 46 of Saturday Night Live premiered on October 3, 2020, hosted by former longtime cast member Chris Rock, star of the hit comedy, drama and horror films Dogma, CB4, Nurse Betty, Pootie Tang, Bad Company, 2 Days in New York, Dr. Dolittle, The Longest Yard, Down to Earth, Grown Ups, and its 2013 sequel Grown Ups 2, Death at a Funeral, Head of State, I Think I Love My Wife, What to Expect When You're Expecting, Top Five, The Witches, The Week Of, Dolemite Is My Name, Spiral: From the Book of Saw, Amsterdam, and Rustin, and the animated films Osmosis Jones and DreamWorks Animation's films Bee Movie, and the Madagascar film franchise and Nickelodeon Movies' PAW Patrol: The Mighty Movie, and five of his stand-up comedy specials Bigger & Blacker, Never Scared, Kill the Messenger, Chris Rock: Tamborine and Chris Rock: Selective Outrage, with rapper and songwriter Megan Thee Stallion as the musical guest. This is Chris Rock's 3rd time as the host and Megan Thee Stallion made her 2nd appearance and her first time as the musical guest on SNL.
The season premiere marked the show's return to Studio 8H, since the beginning of COVID-19 pandemic and the first time since March 7, 2020 of the previous season.
This also marked the first episode for Andrew Dismukes, Lauren Holt, and Punkie Johnson as cast members.
This is also even marked the first episode with Jim Carrey taking over the impersonating of former Vice-President Joe Biden, from longtime former cast member Jason Sudeikis, and Woody Harrelson and John Mulaney.
The goodnights speech for Chris Rock is "Hey, I want to Thanks to Megan Thee Stallion, Young Thug, Alec Baldwin, Jim Carrey, Maya Rudolph -- Yes! -- and the whole cast of "SNL." Thank you so much! Wear a mask! Wear a mask! Be safe out there! What". (Cheers and applause)
Cast[]
Repertory Players[]
- Beck Bennett
- Aidy Bryant
- Michael Che
- Pete Davidson
- Mikey Day
- Heidi Gardner
- Colin Jost
- Kate McKinnon
- Alex Moffat
- Kyle Mooney
- Ego Nwodim
- Chris Redd
- Cecily Strong
- Kenan Thompson
- Melissa Villaseñor (Credited in the opening montage, but did not appear and only appeared in goodbyes)
Featured Players[]
- Andrew Dismukes (First Appearance)
- Chloe Fineman
- Lauren Holt (First Appearance)
- Punkie Johnson (First Appearance)
- Bowen Yang
- Cameos by Alec Baldwin, Jim Carrey, former longtime cast member Maya Rudolph, and Harry Styles
- Musical guest appearance by Young Thug
Sketches and Musical Performances[]
Cold Open Sketch Pre-recorded Weekend Update Music Performance Other
| Title | Image | Summary |
|---|---|---|
| First Debate Cold Opening | Chris Wallace (Beck Bennett) moderates the first presidential debate between Donald Trump (cameo by Alec Baldwin) and Joe Biden (cameo by Jim Carrey). Cameos by longtime former cast member Maya Rudolph as Senator Kamala Harris and Harry Styles. With Cecily Strong as Kimberly Guilfoyle. | |
| Opening Montage |  |
The new opening montage is introduced to this season. This one was in black and white and showed the cast both at NBC Studios and around 30 Rockefeller Plaza, with their names appearing in various colored cursive lettering. Some of the cast members were also shown wearing masks due to the COVID-19 pandemic. First credits for Andrew Dismukes, Lauren Holt, and Punkie Johnson and Ego Nwodim being promoted to repertory status. Also, the background for the hosts and musical guests were changed once again to white and the musical guests/hosts clips were opposed to two and thrice (for musical guest Megan Thee Stallion and host Chris Rock). |
| Stand-Up Monologue by Chris Rock | Former SNL cast member Chris Rock returned to Studio 8H to host for the third time. He does his stand-up about President Donald Trump contracting COVID-19, the pandemic and the U.S. government. | |
| Action News At Five: Eye On Pittsburgh | News anchors (Heidi Gardner and Mikey Day) report on a COVID-19 superspreader event. With Ego Nwodim, Pete Davidson, Kenan Thompson and Beck Bennett. First appearance of Lauren Holt as a cast member. | |
| Bottom of Your Face ft. Megan Thee Stallion | A group of rappers (Kenan Thompson, Chris Redd, and Pete Davidson) perform a song about wanting to see their girlfriends’ (Megan Thee Stallion, Ego Nwodim) faces. Also features Chris Rock. | |
| Future Ghost | A ghost (Chris Rock) visits a teenager Zach (Kyle Mooney) to warn him about his future. With Beck Bennett as Zach's future self, Heidi Gardner as his mother Rachel and Kenan Thompson as himself. | |
| The Drew Barrymore Show | A commercial advertises Drew Barrymore's (Chloe Fineman) new daytime talk show, The Drew Barrymore Show. First appearances of Punkie Johnson and Andrew Dismukes as cast members. | |
| Megan Thee Stallion performs "Savage" | With pre-recorded vocals from Beyoncé, Malcolm X and Tamika Mallory. | |
| Weekend Update with Colin Jost and Michael Che | Weekend Update anchors Colin Jost and Michael Che tackle the week's biggest news, like a poll showing overwhelming support for Joe Biden from the LGBTQ community and the Senate moving forward with a vote on Trump’s supreme court nominee, Amy Coney Barrett. With guests, Chen Biao (Bowen Yang) and Carrie Krum (Aidy Bryant). The segment ended with pays tribute to Ruth Bader Ginsburg, who died two weeks prior, with McKinnon portraying Justice Ginsburg silently sitting in the audience at the end of Weekend Update, followed by a card honoring the late justice. | |
| NBA Bubble Draft Finals | Women (Megan Thee Stallion, Maya Rudolph, Aidy Bryant, Heidi Gardner, Chloe Fineman, Lauren Holt, and Punkie Johnson) compete to get drafted into the NBA bubble, hosted by Patrice Soupsalad (Chris Rock). With Andrew Dismukes, Alex Moffat and Chris Redd. | |
| Stunt Performers Association Of America | Stunt performers (Kate McKinnon, Aidy Bryant, Mikey Day, Chris Redd, and Ego Nwodim) plea with everyone to take precautions against COVID-19 so they can return to work. | |
| Band Shot Commercial Bumper | First appearance of Maddie Rice as a member of the Saturday Night Live Band, as she is performing her guitar solo during the final commercial break. | |
| Megan Thee Stallion performs "Don't Stop" with Young Thug | Stallion is joined with Young Thug. | |
| Goodbyes and Closing Credits | Megan Thee Stallion, Young Thug, Alec Baldwin, Maya Rudolph, Jim Carrey, Lorne Michaels, and the whole cast of SNL are all thanked by Chris Rock for having him back home. He also reminds everyone at home and the audience members to wear a mask and be safe out there. Also in the goodbyes, all the cast (except for Kate McKinnon, Kyle Mooney, Colin Jost and Michael Che) point to Andrew Dismukes, Lauren Holt and Punkie Johnson, since this is their first episode in the cast. Only appearance of Melissa Villaseñor. |
Trivia[]
- This episode also marked the first episode for Maddie Rice as the new member of the Saturday Night Live Band. She played an electric guitar, and joined at the beginning of the season, replacing Jared Scharff after 13 years in the band.
- This was also Celeste Yim's first episode as a writer at SNL. Yim is the first non-binary writer at the show, and was the only new writer hired this season.
- Also, for the season premiere, Anna Drezen was promoted to co-head writer alongside Michael Che, Colin Jost, and Kent Sublette, making her the first female head writer since Sarah Schneider.
- Before joining the cast, Andrew Dismukes had been a writer on the show for three seasons.
- The cold open generated controversy among conservatives who claimed that it was inappropriate to satirize Trump while he was hospitalized. Baldwin defended his portrayal of Trump saying that based on news released by the White House, Trump was not gravely ill, and that the satire was about Trump's debate performance, not about his illness.
- The episode pays tribute to Ruth Bader Ginsburg, who died two weeks prior, with McKinnon portraying Justice Ginsburg silently sitting in the audience at the end of Weekend Update, followed by a card honoring the late justice.
- There is definitely no additional sketch before the goodnights.
- This is the 4th appearance of Chen Biao.
- This is the 4th and final appearance of Carrie Krum.
Trivia/Notes[]
- Chris Rock is the fourth former cast member to host a season premiere of SNL, after Chevy Chase (Season 8), Amy Poehler (Season 36), and Tina Fey (Season 39), as well as the first former African-American cast member to a season premiere. Rock is also the African-American celebrity to host a season premiere since LeBron James back in 2007.
References[]
| Preceded by: May 9, 2020 (Season 45) |
Saturday Night Live episode | Followed by: October 10, 2020 |