The Return Of Tina Fey And Amy Poehler Reminds Us How Vital ‘SNL’ Can Be

There’s a wellspring of creative energy released whenever Saturday Night Live is hosted by a distinguished member of its inner circle, such as Alec Baldwin, Steve Martin, or one of its own highly successful alumni. Given that last night’s hosts were Tina Fey and Amy Poehler, expectations for sharper writing, tighter sketches, and a certain distinguished breed of special guest were high.

These expectations were met in the show’s first few seconds.

Last night’s cold open ties with those starring Larry David as Bernie Sanders for funniest of the year, as the cast unveiled a slew of new impressions in taking on the latest Republican debate.

The first surprise was the face of Donald Trump. The Trump impression this season has been handled competently, if not entirely naturally, by Taran Killam, who does his best scrunch-face to capture Trump’s minced way of viewing the world.

Jon Rudnitsky, as Wolf Blitzer, introduced the candidates, and we then saw a fuller-faced Trump than Killam’s, a Trump that, for a split second, looked like the recent host himself might have returned for a cameo.

Instead, it was former long time cast member and current SNL announcer Darrell Hammond, come to reclaim the impression he had nailed when he was on the show. Hammond’s Trump is worlds better than Killam’s, both effortless and more age appropriate (Hammond is 60; Killam, 33).

Whether done to provide a better take on what has become, thanks to bizarre current events, a more significant impression, or simply to release Killam to play Ted Cruz in the same sketch, it was a smart move that the show will hopefully stick with.

The cold open overall was a smart take on the dynamics between the current GOP candidates, with worthwhile barbs galore.

Ben Carson is becoming Jay Pharoah’s best impression, and the rare one he’s making his own; he turns Carson into a cross between a mewling kitty and a coy baby. Beck Bennett played Jeb Bush in all his whiny glory, coming close to tears when Hammond’s Trump tells him, “you’re a lightweight, and I know for a fact you pee sitting down.” Cecily Strong’s Carly Fiorina knows Vladimir Putin hates her because she sold him an HP printer and it didn’t work, a statement driven home by Strong’s take on Fiorina’s Cruella de Vil smile.

Killam’s Cruz explains that ISIS will hate him because “everyone who knows me hates me,” citing his “punchable face”; Bobby Moynihan’s Chris Christie informs us that, “1 out of every 3 babies born today is already in ISIS”; Wolf gets annoyed at a man talking from the audience, until he realizes it’s Rand Paul (Kyle Mooney). By sketch’s end, Trump humiliates Jeb by explaining what he’s learned – that Jeb’s real name is Jebra.

The cold open was a strong set-up for what was to come.

Fey and Poehler’s monologue featured the pair talking about how, while they’re best friends and alike in many ways, they are also different in that Poehler is more fun and wacky, while Fey is more traditional. They proved this by singing a Christmas song, with Poehler handling the poppy verses, and Fey’s sounding like droning dirges written by 15th Century monks taking purity vows.

It was a sweet predecessor to the sketch fans were waiting for, a meeting of the two Hillary’s, as Poehler’s Hillary Clinton comes to Kate McKinnon’s in a dream, warning her not to get too cocky about being president. She was cocky too, in 2007, she says, before “someone named Barack Obama stumbled out of a soup kitchen with a basketball and a cigarette and stole my life.”

But the sketch’s big surprise is the return of Fey’s Sarah Palin, who tells the Hillarys she’s sorry about what she heard – that after running for president, Hillary had to become a secretary. Fey lays down a masterful bit of Palin word salad before, inexplicably, the three end the sketch in a glorious twerk-fest.

A game show parody, “Meet Your Second Wife,” followed. After a strange technical glitch, the show, hosted by Poehler and Fey, unfolded, and as we learned its premise, it seemed like a parody the show could only have gotten away with by having Poehler and Fey host.

With Moynihan, Killam, and Kenan Thompson as the contestants, each with their wife in the audience, the show’s premise is that each man gets to meet the woman who will one day become his second wife – and they turn out to be young teens or little girls, for real. The men are confused and a bit worried at first, but then Fey explains to Moynihan’s character, a writer, that one of his novels will go on to be a big success, and suddenly, he “gets it.” His wife, Vanessa Bayer, does not. At the end of his interaction with the girl, who is 15 and likes horses, Moynihan says, “well, I guess I’ll see you in 20 years,” to which Fey replies, “actually, it’s seven.” When Killan’s wife, Aidy Bryant, says, “I thought this was a home makeover show,” Fey says, “In a way, it is.”

The sketch gets worse (better), when Killam’s second wife is five years old, and they learn he doesn’t leave his current wife – she will die in a kayaking accident. Thompson thinks he’s in better shape when Cecily Strong comes out, but no such luck – his second wife is the fetus in her stomach.

The next sketch marks the return of Kenan Thompson’s film director whose experience consists solely of a guest turn on The Jeffersons. As such, his acting directions are made up entirely of Three Stooges-style comedic techniques. Given that he’s directing a take on Carol, with Fey and Poehler playing actresses in a sensitive drama portraying 1940s lesbians first learning they love each other, the instructions are less than appropriate, though Poehler’s George Jefferson dance is the perfect compliment to Fey’s spit take.

Another sketch featured Poehler, Fey, and drop-in guest Maya Rudolph as messed-up seventies stars on a Christmas TV retrospective. Rudolph is a drunk who throws presents at children, Poehler hoovers up cocaine with a human-sized straw, and Fey sings a duet with Thompson’s Bill Cosby. Fun for the whole family, indeed.

The week’s pre-taped bit has Fey and Poehler parodying Taylor Swift “Bad Blood” video, with the pair in badass, rapidly-changing outfits introducing their “squad” – including their nannies, their mammogram technician, and their gynecologist, who, they make clear, is their actual, real-life gynecologist (yes, they use the same doctor). The video is an incredible way for the pair to take on pop culture while expressing the values so integral to their personas, as it uses their clout (and the show’s hefty video budget) to salute the real women in their lives, those who handle the unglamorous tasks that allow Fey and Poehler to be as publicly fabulous as they are. That said, we also get cameos by Amy Schumer and Gayle King. It’s not every day we get to see King fire a rocket launcher.

For the ten-to-one slot, Poehler and Rudolph bring back “Bronx Beat,” where their Betty and Jodi look at the world as only two housewives from pre-hipster New York can, expressing their exasperation with all this Star Wars nonsense. (“What the hell is a Wookie?”)

The episode closed out with the cast joining musical guests Bruce Springsteen and the E Street Band (and Paul McCartney, who must have been hanging out backstage) for a joyful version of “Santa Claus is Coming to Town.” During the song, Bayer stood directly behind Springsteen, and the smile on her face – and similar for Pete Davidson and Moynihan – was one of the most clearly ecstatic moments I’ve ever seen on SNL.

The Fey/Poehler episode was by far the season’s funniest, as it was everything you expect from the pair – feminist, funny, edgy, and never slack. It commented on gender issues without being preachy, and reminded us what SNL can be when it’s in top form (and when it holds its own writing to appropriately high standards).

Whatever it is that happens to SNL when Fey and/or Poehler return, I hope someone at the show is analyzing and documenting it. In recent years, while the cast continues to pervade pop culture, the show’s material has been less culturally relevant, ceding that sketch-comedy ground to Inside Amy Schumer and Key & Peele. Last night showed what the show can be when it’s closer to the top of its game, and given that we’re electing a president next year, we’ve never needed prime Saturday Night Live more than we do right now. For 2016, let’s hope they can carry this inspiration along to find themselves atop the sketch comedy conversation once again.

Larry Getlen is the author of the book Conversations with Carlin. His greatest wish is to see Stefon enjoy a cheeseburger at John Belushi’s diner. Follow him on Twitter at @larrygetlen.