[imagesource: NBC]

Sjoe, what a weekend rollercoaster that was.

Early on Friday morning, Donald Trump announced that he had tested positive for COVID-19, and then news outlets spent the weekend breathlessly reporting on every aspect of his treatment.

Then there was the fact that a number of other high-profile Republican figures have also tested positive, with Trump’s Rose Garden event last Saturday, where he announced he would be nominating Amy Coney Barrett as his Supreme Court pick, the likely superspreader event.

Between Trump contracting COVID-19 and the hot mess that was the first debate, there was plenty for Saturday Night Live to lampoon in their first episode back for season 46, and they also rolled out a new Joe Biden.

Opposite Alec Baldwin as POTUS, Jim Carrey stepped up to the plate to play the role of Biden. SNL doesn’t upload full clips to YouTube for South African viewers, so we’ll piece things together from a number of different videos.

CNN with the intro to Carrey’s first on-stage appearance:

The NBC variety show opened with a sketch taking on this week’s presidential debate…

“The following is a re-broadcast of Tuesday’s presidential debate, even though Tuesday feels 100 days ago,” a voice said opening the show. “We thought it was important to see it again since it might be the only presidential debate. And it was pretty fun to watch, as long as you don’t live in America.”

Here’s that entrance:

There he is. #SNLPremiere pic.twitter.com/Mfm7tBBcKh

— Saturday Night Live – SNL (@nbcsnl) October 4, 2020

The Washington Post compiled some of the best moments from the SNL sketch in this video below:

Reviews of Carrey’s performance were mixed, with USA Today calling him ‘shaky’, and Variety saying that the show should rely on its in-house cast, rather than outside actors and celebs, for the meatiest roles.

Others said that Carrey was on the money.

I think the most important takeaway here is that if the best America can offer is Trump versus Biden for the White House, they have bigger worries than which actors play those two on a sketch show.

[source:cnn]