‘SNL’ Season 41 Premiere Recap & Review: Miley Cyrus Hosts, Hillary Clinton Guest-Stars

Saturday Night Live started the new season with a bang, with Miley Cyrus as host and musical guest, and guest star Hillary Clinton playing a bartender.

‘SNL’ SEASON 41 PREMIERE RECAP

Cyrus started the show with a funny song about the end of Summer 2015 and those who made it into the news this summer and will ultimately be forgotten forever as the new season begins. The song mentioned Rachel Dolezal, the dentist who killed the Cecil The Lion, Kim Davis, the Entourage movie, and more.

 

The show contained a number of highly entertaining sketches including one with Taran Killam playing Donald Trump. There were also some sketches that failed to hit the mark. Here are some of the best and worst sketches of the night.

The Squad
The faux trailer for The Squad portrayed a couple of best friends who promise to be besties forever before they get into a terrible car accident. When they wake up, they find the world has changed, and everyone has been brainwashed by Taylor Swift. The girls’ friendship is tested as they try to avoid becoming yet another member of Swift’s ‘squad’.

 

The Millennials
This sketch explores the ridiculousness of the millennials with their cell-phones, selfies, obliviousness and lack of work-ethic. This sketch bears similar characteristics to the SNL sketch “The Californians.” Cyrus joined in as one of the aloof millennials, and made the audience laugh with her statement to her boss, played by Killam, “I need to go to the south of France to get some perspective.”

 

One of the poorer sketches was “Kyle Mooney and Miley Cyrus Get Married.” The sketch starts with Cyrus and Kyle Mooney about to say their “I do’s” when Mooney abruptly runs out of the room to whine to Beck Bennett and Bobby Moynihan about his unwillingness to marry Cyrus, despite how perfect she would be as a wife. The sketch felt like it had been put together in a hurry, and didn’t reach its full potential.

 

Another lacking sketch featured Pope Francis, played by Mooney, appearing on Weekend Update. Mooney played Pope Francis as a Brooklyn party boy which failed to entertain, although the audience threw him a few pity laughs.

 

One of the best sketches by far was when Hillary Clinton appeared as the bartender Val, who gave advice to the sullen, Hillary Clinton impersonator Kate McKinnon.

As the musical guest of the evening, as well as host, Cyrus performed beautifully, and she even shed a tear as she sang her new ballad “The Twinkle Song” while playing piano.

 

All in all a good start to the season. The next episode of SNL airs Oct. 10 at 11:30 on NBC with Amy Schumer as host.