SNL

Much as we saw last season, SNL took time at the top of the show to address a major tragedy with song. Watch this weekend’s cold open, as Las Vegas singer Jason Aldean pays tribute to lost lives with a special acknowledgement for Tom Petty.

If perhaps SNL seemed to be sleeping on the job with its two-hosts-per-month in 2017, they had good reason. Not only have the final four hosts been announced, including Jimmy Fallon, Melissa McCarthy and The Rock, but shows will air live across the country for the first time in history.

SNL didn’t quite have its ducks in a row with the announcement that Hidden Figures star Octavia Spencer would lead the first March show; lacking a musical guest to accompany. Now, not only has NBC filled out the March 4 dance card, but so too will Scarlett Johannson make a return appearance the following week.

In this skit, Alec Baldwin's incompetent Donald Trump just can't kick his insane Twitter habit—and ironically, the real Trump responds with a tweet.

We’re still not entirely certain how SNL will fare with controversial (if revered) comedian Dave Chappelle hosting the first post-election episode, but at least the end of November looks a bit more familiar. Kristen Wiig will make her second return to SNL, hosting the final installment of this long, gloomy month.

"I almost sprained my jaw pushing my lower jaw forward to talk the way he does and say, 'Putin.'"

Few would suggest current SNL Weekend Update team Colin Jost and Michael Che as the segment’s peak, likely putting past pairs like Tina Fey and Jimmy Fallon higher on the list. The two even made an unexpected return to the desk this weekend, but not exactly as we remember them.

The moment former Alaskan governor and 2008 Vice Presidential candidate Sarah Palin endorsed Donald Trump for President of the United States, you know the producers at SNL hurried to get Tina Fey on the phone. The beloved former cast member, who just hosted the show last month, famously took on the role of Palin eight years ago and many people believe that her scathing imitation actually did lasting harm to the real Palin’s political chances. In any case, this event allowed SNL to pair Fey’s Palin with Darrell Hammond‘s Trump. Thanks, reality!

With Star Wars: The Force Awakens star Adam Driver hosting 2016’s first episode of SNL, a Kylo Ren sketch of some kind was inevitable. After all, you don't get the actor who plays the villain in one of the biggest movies of all time to appear on your comedy variety show and not have him reprise that character. And we'll give the show this much: we never would have predicted a faux episode of Undercover Boss set on Starkiller Base, with the angry, murderous Kylo Ren going undercover amongst his troops as a radar technician named Matt.

Maybe you didn’t realize how much you missed Will Ferrell’s George W. Bush impression on SNL until the actor popped in for a surprise appearance during the cold open, delivering a State of the Union address on our current crop of GOP presidential hopefuls — which is essentially just Ferrell’s Dubbya roasting his fellow Republicans in an attempt to make an unprecedented bid for a third term as POTUS.