Saturday Night Live Announces New Original Show After Presidential Election

Saturday Night Live is ready for another episode this season after the presidential election. November 7th will bring an immediate entry to strike while the iron is hot. NBC actually announced the change in a press release. There’s no question that fans expected the sketch comedy staple to lean into politics during Season 46. Last season was taken off guard as a result of the coronavirus pandemic and having to make some “At Home” efforts on the fly. But, when it came time for the fall, there was little chance that the network wasn’t going to have some sort of effort to take advantage of President Donald Trump and Joe Biden’s debates. As a result, the first three episodes of this season have opened with some absurd takes on those media moments, and the reaction has been mixed.

Lorne Michaels has had to answer some questions about his long-running program. When the choice was made to cast beloved comedy star Jim Carrey as Biden, a lot of viewers wondered why the show didn’t opt to hand the gig to someone else. But, in a previous interview, the head man broke the decision down.

“There was some interest on his part. And then we responded, obviously, positively. But it came down to discussions about what the take was,” Michaels said of the Biden casting. “He and Colin Jost had a bunch of talks. He and I as well. He will give the part energy and strength, and … [Laughs.] Hopefully it’s funny.”

As far as keeping things safe with respect to the COVID-19 pandemic, Michaels also had some comments about what SNL is doing to keep everything rolling.

“We need the audience, obviously. With comedy, when you don’t hear the response, it’s just different. With the kind of comedy we do, which quite often is broad, timing gets thrown off without an audience,” Michaels said. “And for me, what is most important is when you’re absolutely certain of some piece on Wednesday, and then the dress-rehearsal audience sees it on Saturday and tells you you’re wrong.”

He continued, “I think us coming back and accomplishing the show will lead to — I hate to use the word normalcy — but it’s a thing that is part of our lives coming back, in whatever form it ends up coming back. So the physical problems of doing it — number of people who can be in the studio, number of people who can be in the control room, how you separate the band so that they’re not in any jeopardy — all of those are part of the meetings we’ve been having”

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