Fred Armisen Hosts ‘Saturday Night Live’ Season Finale

Fred Armisen returned to the Studio 8H stage to host the season finale of SNL on Saturday night.

Fred Armisen Returns To ‘Saturday Night Live’ For Season Finale

Armisen was a part of the main cast of SNL for 11 seasons before leaving and had no problem jumping right back into things, starting with a unique twist on the opening monologue.

Armisen replaced the monologue with scenes from his own one-man show: “Love, from New York, I Did Saturday’s Right: Fun Fame & Fred On the 17th Floor.” With soft violins playing in the background Armisen went back in time to when he was just a man from Long Island trying to catch a break.

“No one ever gave me much of a chance of making it in show biz,” Armisen told the audience.

The host hilariously recreated the moments leading up to his first SNL audition and told funny stories about his rise to stardom, his impersonations setting the scene.

“Is this a dream?” he joked with an audience member, recalling his disbelief at being cast.

The first cameo of the night came in the cold open, which saw Kate McKinnon as Hillary Clinton celebrating her presidential win alone in a bar, only to be interrupted by the return of Larry David as Bernie Sanders. The candidates commiserate over drinks and share outrageous secrets about the campaign trail, and end up in a hilarious dance party that took them through Studio 8H and let Hillary push Bernie straight into an open elevator.

Armisen later reprised his role as the shallow and conceited Regine in the skit “New Girlfriend.” Regine, appeared as the girlfriend of loving boyfriend Jason Sudeikis.The pair were attending a dinner party and couldn’t keep their hands off each other, as Regine provided the guests with hilarious reactions to Sudeikis’ touches.

“Watch what happens when I kiss her neck,” Sudeikis says, as Armisen begins to melt into the couch with over the top gestures.

Armisen joined Beck Bennett, Kyle Mooney, Jay Pharoah, Jon Rudnitsky, and Pete Davidson for a shocking parody of the “Oh captain, my captain” scene from the classic Robin Williams film Dead Poets Society. The skit titled “Farewell Mr. Bunting” sees Armisen as a teacher who has just been fired and his students will not let him go without taking a stand. The skit plays serious for most of the segment, staying close to the intensity of the original scene when suddenly Davidson jumps onto his desk and gets his head blasted off. Blood flies over the classroom and his head flies out the window, flipping a switch on the scene.

“I’m gonna take off,” Mr. Bunting says, after the bloody massacre.