VIDEO: 'SNL' Debuts With Eastwood Chair

Saturday Night Live debuted this weekend with a side-splitting skit of Clint Eastwood and Chair (yes, that chair), played by Bill Hader and an empty stool, respectively. “Seth Meyers sent me an email saying, ‘Are you watching this?’ And I said, ‘No, I’m watching Rolling Thunder with William Devane and Tommy Lee Jones. What are you watching?’" Hader told Politico of the evening when Eastwood took to the stage at the GOP 2012 and spent 11 minutes arguing with an invisible President Barack Obama on live television. "And he said, ‘Well, I’m watching the Republican National Convention and Clint Eastwood is doing this Bob Newhart thing.’ So yeah, I watched it online and, yeah, it was pretty, pretty interesting.”

But even Hader didn't know if the skit would make it on the show for its premiere until last week. Hader, who's portrayed politicians such as Rick Perry before, was also said to be in the running to portray Rep. Paul Ryan, and will resume his famous James Carville impression. “[I]t’s okay, it’s a fine impression, but him acting insane is what makes it funny," said Hader. "You know what I mean? Him saying he’s raised by eels and stuff. Which is the kind of thing I’m more interested in. I’m more interested in weirder things. Or the Rick Perry Update we did where he was drunk and he had the little hula toy with him. You know, just weird sh—. It’s just more fun to play at times.”

SNL returned for its 38th season with Seth McFarlane as host (above) and Jay Pharaoh replacing Fred Armisen as President Obama (below), which received mixed reviews from media critics. "Pharoah’s Obama may need a bit of fine-tuning and subtlety, but he brought more humor and satire to the impression (especially in terms of the president’s eyes, grin and pauses), whereas Armisen tended to play Obama fairly straight," said the Los Angeles Times in one of the more positive reviews. The highlight? MacFarlane's impersonation of Olympian Ryan Lochte. "He nailed Lochte's signature brand of goofy, aloof ditiziness," Time opined.

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