(Photo courtesy of: People) “Comedian Pete Davidson and musician Bad Bunny hosted the first two episodes of SNL’s 49th season.”
Allison Parker
Connector Editor
The popular NBC late-night comedy show “Saturday Night Live” returned for its 49th season on Oct. 14. This release has been highly anticipated following the temporary cancellation of the show due to the Writers Guild of America Strike that began back in May of 2023. Now with the strike ending in late September, SNL and several other shows affected by the strike are back on air.
The show utilized some of the industry’s most famous faces to hype up the season’s debut, with comedian Pete Davidson hosting the event alongside rap singer Ice Spice.
Davidson opened up the show with a heartfelt message addressing the crisis currently happening in the Middle East. Throughout his speech, he touched upon his own experience as a victim of terrorism—mentioning his father’s tragic passing during the 9/11 attacks on the Twin Towers in New York City. While SNL refers to the speech as a “Cold Open” on Youtube, Davidsons words about how comedy helped him through tragedy was a tender and empathetic way to begin the night.
SNL is known for its short comedy skits that cover the latest in pop culture news. Comedians Pete Davidson, Mikey Day, Bowen Yang and Heidi Gardner were just a few of the famous SNL stars that were featured in this week’s skits. Among these included a hilarious parody of Ryan Gosling’s “I’m Just Ken” from the film “Barbie” that was released in July of 2023. The parody starred Davidson, who sang about his irresponsible love life and former rehab visits—all while sporting a classic Barbie pink outfit.
The show was also quick to touch upon the newly blossomed love life between pop star Taylor Swift and her new beaux NFL star Travis Kelce. The skit “Fox NFL Sunday” features the group of comedians playing football commentators—where they begin to argue over which one of them is the biggest “Swiftie”. Fans were pleasantly surprised to see Kelce himself featured at the end of the skit—replacing a superfan sideline commentator played by Davidson.
Rapper Ice Spice stood alongside Davidson and comedian Kenan Thompson to open the show. While Ice Spice herself didn’t appear to be featured in any of the night’s skits, her mere presence was enough to get the crowd going.
Ice Spice’s performances included her hit single “In Ha Mood” as well as her newly released single “Pretty Girl,” featuring Nigerian rapper Rema—who Ice Spice brought with her on stage. Rema however wasn’t the “Munch” singer’s only friend for the night. Fans were ecstatic when Taylor Swift made a guest appearance on the show to announce Spice’s final performance. The two have been previously linked as pals, with Swift putting Ice Spice as a feature on her remix of the hit song “Karma”.
“Saturday Night Live” is wasting no time in getting the ball rolling after its long hiatus and release of the new season. The show has already announced its next hosts and musical guests, including Puerto Rican rapper Bad Bunny as well as Nate Bargatze of the Foo Fighters.
