Lin-Manuel Miranda on 'SNL' meant plenty of 'Hamilton' and Trump talk
It was certainly fitting that the Lin-Manuel Miranda-hosted Saturday Night Live would be focused on musicals and politics.
Miranda, the creator of Founding Father musical Hamilton, was charming as host. As expected, he opened the show with a Hamilton song. But it had updated lyrics, which his songs tend to get.
To the tune of My Shot, he rapped: "Yes, I'm right in my element. Who knew that Hamilton would be so topically relevant? The way these grandstanding candidates be talkin', they're just a tweet away from facing off in Weehawken. They keep brawlin', D and RNC keep fallin'. I like it better when it's Kate McKinnon v. Baldwin."
He went on to point out some of the legendary hosts who've been on SNL, before stopping at Donald Trump's picture. "This piece of ...," he sang, covering his mouth for the implied expletive before switching to the tune of another Hamilton song, The Reynolds Pamphlet: "Well, you're never gon' be president now."
And that's certainly not where the Trump references ended.
In the show's cold open, Alec Baldwin's Trump interrupted an airing of the vice presidential debate to discuss his leaked lewd conversation with Billy Bush. On CNN, he tried to appeal to female voters he offended: "Listen, women, if you give me a chance," said Baldwin, referencing Trump's groping comments. "I promise I can do a lot more than just grab it. I can also bop it, twist it and pull it."
There was more political talk on Weekend Update, where Tina Fey and Jimmy Fallon made cameos as undecided voters with iffy Philadelphia accents who brought hoagies for co-anchor Colin Jost. On one hand, Trump "looks like someone opened a quesadilla to pick the chicken out," said Fey, while Hillary Clinton "lied about her emails, lied about Benghazi (and) pretended to be surprised on Steve Harvey," said Fallon.
After playing Clinton in the cold open, McKinnon reprised another funny political role of hers, as Trump's campaign manager Kellyanne Conway, whose day off is repeatedly interrupted when she's called to defend her candidate's controversial tweets. By the end, Conway no longer bothers getting dressed for her on-air conversations with CNN's Jake Tapper (Beck Bennett).
Miranda returned to rapping later in the show, where he played a high school senior at The Crucible cast party.
The musical sketch poked fun of the habits of horny theater kids who had just finished a run of their show. Manuel was the star senior in braces, who said, "If you sext me right tonight, I'll tell you what the spring show is."