'Saturday Night Live' Recap: Sarah Silverman Hosts; Maroon 5 Performs

Saturday Night Live’s second episode of its 40th season had host Sarah Silverman and musical guest Maroon 5.

Cold Open: 60 Minutes

Saturday Night Live’s cold open on Saturday featured President Barack Obama (Jay Pharoah) chatting with Steve Kroft (Beck Bennett) about ISIS – and ISIS’s pervasive social media presence. In addition to taking over Twitter, the militant Islamic group was ruling Kickstarter, Pinterest and Tinder.

Sarah Silverman’s Opening Monologue

Silverman, who previously served as a castmember on Saturday Night Live, has a comedy style that’s a bit different than what is featured on the sketch show. Silverman addressed that right off the bat, saying, “I guess I’m known as a bit of a blue comedian,” before going out into the audience and sitting on a guest’s lap. Silverman lavishes praise on the woman and then asks to receive the same sort of compliments. She also did a Q&A with her former self who appeared on the show.

The Fault In Our Stars 2: The Ebola In Our Everything

The show opted to tackle the Ebola epidemic and panic with a sketch featuring Taran Killam falling for Silverman’s sickly character. However, he soon learns that she’s not suffering from cancer, but from Ebola. Among the gags in the faux trailer was a clip of the two engaging in sex in a hazmat suit.

Joan Rivers In Heaven

SNL paid tribute to Joan Rivers with Silverman playing the late comedian. In the skit, Rivers offers a roast of fellow people in heaven, including Steve Jobs, Freddie Mercury, Richard Pryor, Benjamin Franklin and Lucille Ball.

Forgotten Television Gems

“Supportive Women” was an homage to the old soap operas. The standout of the sketch, surprisingly, was Kenan Thompson playing the host of the show. “That character died with a smile on her face!” says Thompson. “Do not ask me why!”

Whites

Digital short Whites took a shot at America race relations. “WHITES: Still calling the shots till 2050,” said a voiceover at the end of the skit.

Weekend Update

Colin Jost and Michael Che’s second go at the Weekend Update desk showed a lot of promise for the pair. The two played off each other, commenting on Joe Biden’s crack about being a vice president and then going into a bit called “What You Can Say.” Jost can’t call his girl “bae” and Che can’t say “toodaloo,” or “Thank you for your help, officer.”

Maroon 5 performed “Animals” and “Maps” as the night’s musical guest.