Does SNL Return Tonight?

The second Saturday of the year is here, and the cast and crew of Saturday Night Live are still on [...]

By Adam Barnhardt

The second Saturday of the year is here, and the cast and crew of Saturday Night Live are still on an extended holiday break. With a week packed to the brim with news the show would most certainly riff on — including the permanent Twitter ban of President Donald Trump — fans of the show will still have to wait a bit to see what those at 30 Rock have to say about the events.

Instead of a return to Studio 8H for a new episode, NBC will instead air a rerun of an episode beginning a midnight Eastern. In times where no new SNL episodes are available, there are typically two separate episodes that air — a classic throwback and one from the current season. Tonight's NFL matchup between the Tampa Bay Buccaneers and the Washington Football Team, however, has bumped the first episode from its time slot, even pushing the rerun back half an hour.

Though Lorne Michaels and company have yet to set a return date for the live sketch show, it's likely the show won't return until President-elect Joe Biden and Vice President-elect Kamala Harris are elected to office. That means the show will presumably return on January 23rd, unless NBC chooses to wait a week — an unlikely scenario.

Funnyman Jim Carrey had previously played Biden earlier this season but dropped the role on the morning of the last new episode before the holiday break.

"Though my term was only meant to be 6 weeks, I was thrilled to be elected as your SNL President...comedy's highest call of duty," Carrey wrote. "I would love to go forward knowing that Biden was the victor because I nailed that sh*t. But I am just one in a long line of proud, fighting SNL Bidens!"

That night, SNL mainstay Alex Moffat slipped into the role. It's unclear if the casting is permanent, or if Michaels will choose to bring in someone else to play the new President.

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