SNL

If you're going to have the great Larry David host a full episode of SNL, there are two obvious areas of parody. First, you simply have to give him more to do as Vermont senator Bernie Sanders, whose unlikely showing in the recent Democratic presidential primaries have made David a regular guest star this season. Second, you need to riff on Curb Your Enthusiasm, his (possibly) late, great HBO sitcom that redefined cringe comedy. And in this case, SNL found a a way to combine the two.

When the 2016 Oscar nominations were announced nearly two weeks ago, the response to the overwhelmingly white line-up of talent proved instantly controversial. Film fans and industry veterans alike gathered around the #OscarsSoWhite hashtag to make their voices heard, especially decrying how films starring black actors and directed by black filmmakers — like Creed and Straight Outta Compton — somehow managed to only receive nominations for the white people involved in making them. With material this ripe, of course SNL was going to take a swipe at the Academy Awards this week.

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.

2015 was a little bit of a bumpy year for SNL, with some near-perfect episodes and a few…well, not-so-perfect episodes. But there were a lot of great sketches and shorts overall — so much so that it made it a bit difficult to narrow it down to just 10. SNL currently boasts a great cast, and even with the loss of the insanely good, insanely weird Mike O’Brien, the Studio 8H crew was still able to churn out some hilarious and often strange content this year. We’ve selected the top 10 SNL sketches of 2015 for your viewing (or re-viewing) pleasure.

Sure, there are lots of kids and teens buying Star Wars: The Force Awakens toys, but a long, long time ago in a galaxy that is actually this one, Star Wars belonged to another group of nerds — and those nerds are not going to let today’s kids take ownership of their fandom so easily, especially when these kids don’t know that action figures should STAY. IN. THE. BOX.

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.

In this age of political strife, when one poorly chosen sentence can derail a Thanksgiving dinner and transform a lovely family holiday meal into a vicious argument, there is one thing that unites us all: Adele. At least that’s the premise of this wonderful sketch from last night’s episode of SNL, which sees some typically heated family picking undone when the pop idol’s new single, “Hello” enters the equation.

Over the past few years, SNL has often turned the opening monologue over to their guest host to let them to whatever the heck they want, especially since the default “We Have No Idea What To Do” tactic of having them break into song is officially getting old. Hosts like Amy Schumer and Louis C.K. use this as an opportunity to try out new stand-up material, but Matthew McConaughey took the chance to share an anecdote.

With Star Wars: The Force Awakens less than a month away from release and anticipation reaching a feverish level unseen in movie fans since 1999, the timing is right for SNL to gently skewer the upcoming sequel. The sketch is really just an excuse for the cast to break out a bunch of impersonations they’ve obviously been keeping in their back pockets while letting them interact with actual Star Wars cast members, but c’mon, that’s all the excuse you need, really.

Looks like I'm going to have to actually tune into SNL this week. Donald Trump is set to host Saturday Night Live this weekend and I'm very curious to see how it will go. It will be a double edged when politics meets comedy. To me when those two mix, it's either hilarious or terrible, there is no in between.

Ever the human punchline, Donald Trump has braved some of his staunchest comedy critics in pursuit of the 2016 presidency. The blowhard billionaire even made headlines with which SNL player would tackle the role in Season 41, but all bets are off when “The Donald” himself hosts an upcoming November outing.