‘SNL’ Recap: Little Golden Showers

It’s been a month since the last new episode of Saturday Night Live’s 42nd season, which is like 10 months in President-elect Donald Trump years. After all, the last time we were in Studio 8H watching Alec Baldwin’s Trump pal around with John Goodman’s Rex Tillerson and Beck Bennett’s Vladimir Putin, the real Tillerson hadn’t appeared before Congress for his confirmation hearing, the real Putin hadn’t been officially charged by U.S. intelligence agencies with spearheading an “influence campaign,” and Trump himself hadn’t met the press to deny the salacious details of a previously unreleased dossier. In other words, the cold open wasn’t going to suffer from a lack of material, especially not when the words “golden showers” were in the mix.

Related: ‘SNL’: Were Trump ‘Pee-Pee’ Jokes a ‘Left-Wing Hit Piece’?

And, as expected, pee-related jokes … um, flowed freely when Baldwin re-enacted Trump’s controversial press conference, even as he tried to direct the media’s attention towards other matters, like the identity of his new White House pet (Paul Ryan, naturally), or the list of entertainers at his inauguration, including 3 Doors Down and “the one Rockette with the last money in her savings.”

Nope, all that reporters wanted to talk about were the PEOTUS’s showering habits. “I’m not talking about the pee-pee, because it didn’t happen, and it wasn’t as cool as it sounds,” Baldwin responded. Instead, he seized the opportunity to discuss jobs, specifically, the “thick stream of jobs” he was planning to bring to the U.S. workforce. “I’m a major wiz at jobs,” he promised, adding that it would be a “golden opportunity for me as President to make a big splash.” Basically, if you like pee jokes, urine luck with this cold open.

Predictable material aside, after a half-season on the job, Alec Baldwin has grown into his Trump impression, a job he’ll apparently have for the remainder of the year and, possibly, the next four beyond that. (Unless Veep Pence takes over the job in two months, as Baldwin suggested. Steve Martin had better get his impression ready just in case — he already has the right hair.) He was certainly more at ease than Rogue One’s Felicity Jones, who uneasily continued a tradition that Adam Driver inaugurated last January of a Star Wars franchise player hosting the first SNL of the new year. You know what that means: Mark Hamill in 2018!

Perhaps realizing that the British actress and Death Star-plan stealer looked a little lost, the writers gifted her with a visit from SNL royalty and paid tribute to dearly departed Carrie Fisher, aka Princess Leia, to boot. Tina Fey appeared in A New Hope-inspired hologram form to try to calm Jones’s nerves. “No matter how it goes, the president of the United States will say it’s sad and overrated,” she said, helpfully. Fey’s Jedi mind-trickery didn’t completely work for Jones, though, as the host spent a lot of the night noticeably reading off cue cards and never quite landing her punchlines. At least she’s got Rogue Two to look forward to, right? Oh wait…

Best Sketch: “Beard Hunk”

Like “Farm Hunk” and “Bland Man” before it, “Beard Hunk” continues to successfully poke fun at a reality TV franchise that’s often a parody of itself already. We could have sworn we’ve heard lines like “I’m 24, but my face is 36,” and “My name is whatever,” on past Bachelor episodes.

Worst Sketch: “Corporate Retreat”

Anyone else feel as if this was a rejected Judy Grimes sketch that was dug out of mothballs at the last minute? Jones, Cecily Strong, and Melissa Villaseñor tried to imitate Grimes’s fast-talking nervous patter, but the three of them together couldn’t equal one Kristen Wiig.

Best Use of Felicity Jones: “Movie Interview”

Jones was at her funniest when she had to be the most dramatic. As the star of Hot Robot 3: Journey to Boob Mountain, she described that utterly ridiculous movie with absolute seriousness, and the contrast generated her biggest laughs of the night.

Episode MVP: Kenan Thompson

His Steve Harvey (“I do government now!”) and Forrest Whitaker bits were great, but the longest-serving member of the current cast did his strongest work since the Tom Hanks “Black Jeopardy” sketch in the short “Shondra & Malik,” as a gang banger with a seriously messed-up car.

Saturday Night Live airs Saturdays at 11:35 p.m. on NBC. Watch clips and full episodes of SNL for free on Yahoo View.