Saturday Night Live comes into 2019 screaming with Rachel Brosnahan, Alec Baldwin’s Trump doing what Trump does best (appearing on a reality show) and a cameo from John Mulaney!

It’s been a while since SNL gave the world a live episode – a few days over a month, which is a really long time when you’re counting the Saturdays.

And Rachel Brosnahan set the year out on a good foot. She was terrific; tremendous. You might even say she was marvelous – in more ways that one! She reprised her role as the titular character in her hit TV series The Marvelous Mrs. Maisel in a sketch where she encourages Leslie Jones to do standup – and is shocked by the lewd set that Jones proceeds to perform.

The SNL team was quick on their feet to respond to Donald Trump’s address that was only hours before the show went live. The government shutdown is been a hot topic over the past month, so it was inevitable that SNL would do at least one take on that – there’s a month and a few days of jokes to catch up on with this thing.

So for the cold open, nearly everyone’s favourite Baldwin (Alec; not Steve or Billy or Dan or Naphtali) did his Donald Trump thing, appearing on a special Deal or No Deal: Government Shutdown Edition, with the “deal” being the end of the shutdown. Of course Keenan Thompson’s Steve Harvey hosted, because why not and Howie Mandel isn’t nearly as fun to make fun of.

 

Weekend Update had Colin Jost and Michael Che taking the government shutdown to task, too, raking Trump through the coals on this specific issue to launch their weekend news segment. But the highlight of the SNL staple was Pete Davidson’s appearance – after his worrisome social media post last month, it’s good to see him appearing healthy and on camera (and apparently over it enough to make his public cry for help a punchline, but that’s Pete Davidson for you). He brought on his bud, comedian and SNL alum John Mulaney to relentlessly mock Clint Eastwood’s new film, The Mule.

 

A killer start to a brand new year – SNL has their work cut out for them if they want to keep pace throughout 2019. But if the past few seasons are any indication, they can handle the momentum.

Saturday Night Live returns live next week January 26 with host James McAvoy and musical guest Meek Mill! Be sure to catch Saturday Night Live airing Saturdays at 11.30 et/8.30 pt on Global, and watch the latest episodes online here on GlobalTV.com/SaturdayNightLive!