September 29, 2018 Season 44 episode
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| Episode | 851 |
| Season Episode | 1 |
| Host | Adam Driver |
| Musical Guest(s) | Kanye West |
| Song(s) performed by Musical Guest(s) |
First performance: "I Love It" with Lil Pump and Adele Givens (the latter via prerecorded video) Second performance: "We Got Love" with Teyana Taylor Third performance: "Ghost Town" with Kid Cudi, 070 Shake, Ty Dolla $ign (on guitar) and the Saturday Night Live Band (the latter replacing the extended goodnights) |
| Previous Episode May 19, 2018 (Season 43) |
Next Episode October 6, 2018 |
The 851st episode and the season premiere of Season 44 of Saturday Night Live premiered on September 29, 2018, hosted by actor Adam Driver, star of the Star Wars sequel trilogy, and the hit films Logan Lucky, BlacKkKlansman, The Report, The Dead Don't Die, Marriage Story, The Last Duel, House of Gucci, Annette, White Noise, Ferrari and 65, with rapper, singer, and songwriter Kanye West as the musical guest. Driver previously hosted SNL on January 16, 2016, the tenth episode and first show of New Year 2016 of SNL's 41st season, with musical guest Chris Stapleton.
This is Adam Driver's 2nd time as the host and the 7th and final musical guest appearance for Kanye West on SNL.
This marked the first episode with Ego Nwodim as a cast member.
Cast[]
Repertory Players[]
- Beck Bennett
- Aidy Bryant
- Michael Che
- Pete Davidson
- Mikey Day
- Leslie Jones
- Colin Jost
- Kate McKinnon
- Alex Moffat
- Kyle Mooney
- Cecily Strong
- Kenan Thompson
- Melissa Villaseñor
Featured Players[]
- Heidi Gardner
- Ego Nwodim (First Appearance)
- Chris Redd
- Cameos by Matt Damon, Rachel Dratch, Wendy Williams, and Kid Cudi
Musical guest cameos by Lil Pump, Teyana Taylor, Ty Dolla $ign, and 070 Shake
Sketches and Musical Performances[]
Cold Open Sketch Pre-recorded Weekend Update Music Performance Other
| Title | Image | Summary |
|---|---|---|
| Kavanaugh Hearing Cold Open | Judge Brett Kavanaugh (Matt Damon) takes questions from Senator Klobuchar (Rachel Dratch), Chuck Grassley (Alex Moffat), Diana Feinstein (Cecily Strong) and more (Beck Bennett, Aidy Bryant, Pete Davidson, Mikey Day, and Chris Redd) during his nomination hearing. | |
| Opening Montage |  |
The new opening montage debuts. It featured black and white video which showed each cast members' whereabouts through New York City, which changed to color and a freeze frame over which the names of each cast member would appear in white text with a color background. The SNL logo that debuted in 2014 remained and the theme music is a rearrangement of the 2014 theme. Also, the host and musical guest portions are the same as in the past two seasons, in which they are live short video clips. First montage with Mikey Day, Alex Moffat, and Melissa Villaseñor as repertory players, and first credit montage for Ego Nwodim. Kyle Mooney appears but his name is not read, and was later dubbed over online and reruns. |
| Monologue by Adam Driver | Returning to host SNL for the second time, actor Adam Driver suffers through cast members Aidy Bryant, Beck Bennett, Kenan Thompson and Pete Davidson talking about their summers. | |
| Fortnite Squad | Fortnite players (Pete Davidson, Kyle Mooney) help a single dad (Adam Driver) play the video game for the first time. With Mikey Day, Beck Bennett, Heidi Gardner and Chris Redd as the video game characters. First appearance of Ego Nwodim as a cast member. | |
| New Look | Kyle Mooney celebrates his sixth season on SNL by getting a dramatic makeover. Also Features Pete Davidson, Kenan Thompson, Beck Bennett, Aidy Bryant, Alex Moffat, Melissa Villaseñor, and Heidi Gardner. Cameos by Wendy Williams and Kid Cudi. | |
| Coffee Shop | Newlyweds (Adam Driver, Cecily Strong) are shocked to find out a secret about the Domenico's coffee they're drinking. With Mikey Day as the manager, Heidi Gardner, Alex Moffat, and Chris Redd as the customers and Melissa Villaseñor as Barista. | |
| '80s Party | Adam Driver remembers the events of a John Hughes-style house party. | |
| Kanye West performs "I Love It" with Lil Pump | Featuring Adele Givens | |
| Weekend Update with Colin Jost and Michael Che | Weekend Update anchors Colin Jost and Michael Che tackle the week's biggest news including Judge Brett Kavanaugh and Dr. Christine Blasey Ford's testimonies on Capitol Hill and Colombia's cocaine production reaching a record level. With guests, Ruth Bader Ginsburg (Kate McKinnon) comments on Judge Brett Kavanaugh's Supreme Court nomination and Capitol Hill testimony, Leslie Jones confronts Colin Jost and Michael Che for cutting her impression of Serena Williams and Pete Davidson stops by the Weekend Update desk to talk about his engagement to Ariana Grande. | |
| Career Day | Mortecai's (Pete Davidson) extremely old father, Abraham H. Parnassus, (Adam Driver) stops by his school's career day. With Aidy Bryant, Alex Moffat as Samantha's father, Ego Nwodim and Melissa Villaseñor as Samantha. | |
| Kanye West performs "We Got Love" with Teyana Taylor | ||
| Neo-Confederate Meeting | Neo-Confederate (Adam Driver) ruins his compatriot's (Beck Bennett) proposal for an all-white paradise. Also Features Aidy Bryant, Heidi Gardner and Alex Moffat as the members, Kyle Mooney as Todd and Chris Redd as William. | |
| Goodbyes and Closing Credits/Kanye West performs "Ghost Town" with Kid Cudi, 070 Shake, Ty Dolla $ign and the Saturday Night Live Band | Adam Driver thanked Matt Damon, Rachel Dratch, Teyana Taylor, the cast, writers, and Lorne, and also introduces Kanye West's third performance. Lil Pump, Kanye West performs to close the show. NBC apparently didn't warn affiliates of the layout change, as many stations sat on the NBC title card before the goodbyes, with the band finishing a song and starting the end theme, before covering most of Driver's goodbyes with commercials, cutting into West mid-song, and cutting away before he finished. Kanye went on a pro-Trump speech after the credits rolled, that made most of the cast, guests, and the host uncomfortable. |
Trivia[]
- This was Bowen Yang and Alison Gates' first episode as writers.
- Yang would end up making a few onscreen appearances this season, and would join the cast the next season.
- Gates would work her way up to becoming one of the show's head writers in 2022.
- Additionally, starting with this episode, Bryan Tucker (a longtime SNL writer since 2005), is named a Senior Writer at SNL, after 4½ years as head writer.
| Preceded by: May 19, 2018 (Season 43) |
Saturday Night Live episode | Followed by: October 6, 2018 |