‘SNL’ Recap: Studio 8H Is Out for the Summer

Saturday Night Live ended its 41st season as it began: with Kate McKinnon’s Hillary Clinton sitting in a bar, drinking. Only this time, the real Hillary didn’t join her, as she did back in the Miley Cyrus-hosted season premiere. Instead, we got an even better cameo: Larry David reprising his Bernie Sanders impression for what could be the final time. After all, when Season 42 begins in the fall, the Democratic nominee will have been decided at the party’s national convention, to be held in Philadelphia in July. At least, we hope a decision is reached by then…

As far as the SNL version of Clinton is concerned, the race is over. “I’ve done it, I’ve won the nomination,” McKinnon boasted to the bartender, before quickly correcting herself. “I mean, no I haven’t. I keep losing states. But mathematically, I’ve done it!” Of course, David’s Sanders wasn’t about to let her get away with declaring victory. “I’m not going anywhere! It’s not over until I say it’s over.” Okay, so technically he was rebelling against the bartender’s “last call” announcement, but you don’t have to be a FiveThirtyEight devotee to know what he’s actually talking about. Despite his stubbornness, Hillary did eventually sweep Bernie off his feet, and danced him through Studio 8H, down the hallway and into a waiting elevator.

Related: Watch the Top 10 ‘SNL’ Sketches From This Season

With politics out of the way, former cast member Fred Armisen returned to his old stomping ground to see the season finale through to its conclusion. And to be honest, he was something of an odd choice. On the one hand, Armisen’s 11-year, 856-sketch run on SNL (that puts him behind Kenan Thompson for most sketch appearances ever) more than qualifies him to follow in the footsteps of such famous alums as Tina Fey and Amy Poehler, who hosted the show earlier in the year.

Armisen played a ridiculously wide range of characters and ethnicities during his tenure. But he rarely appeared as himself on the show, and it was strange to watch him being plain old Fred Armisen — as opposed to Garth, Giuseppe or Lawrence Welk — when he took the stage for his monologue. Perhaps recognizing that, he found a way to integrate character work into his soliloquy, re-enacting the story of his SNL audition and playing the roles of his mother, father and, in a deliberately terrible impression, Lorne Michaels. Not surprisingly, Armisen seemed more at ease in the sketches themselves, most of which made him part of the ensemble rather than the focal point. (Let’s all be thankful that he didn’t push for another episode of The Californians.) His reluctance to grab the spotlight allowed Maya Rudolph to nab the night’s biggest cheers for a returning Not Ready for Primetime Player. Popping up for a “Weekend Update” appearance, the future Maya & Marty variety show star brought the full force of her personality to bear. Rudolph has our early vote to host the Season 42 finale.

Best Sketch: “Farewell, Mr. Bunting”

Sure, this sketch may just be a Dead Poets Society-inspired riff on the classic Monty Python bloodbath, Salad Days. But don’t try and pretend you didn’t start screaming with laughter when Pete Davidson got decapitated by the classroom ceiling fan.

Best Ad Masquerading as a Sketch: “Finest Girl”

Andy Samberg and his Lonely Island buddies used the “SNL Digital Short” segment they pioneered to convince viewers to check out their new film, Popstar: Never Stop Never Stopping, out in theaters June 3. Conner4Real seems like he’ll be a fun Samberg creation, but he’s gonna have to work extra hard to replace Hot Rod in our hearts. Cool beans!

Worst Sketch: “Expedition”

There’s a special level of Detention Hell where students are required to watch this amateur hour re-enactment of early American history play on an endless loop.

Best Use of Fred Armisen: “The Harkin Brothers”

If you’ve seen his Prince or Ian Rubbish, you know that Armisen’s comic range is only exceeded by his musical range. And he showcased the latter talent in the night’s closing sketch, leading the entire ensemble — plus special guest stars Rudolph, David, Jason Sudeikis, Andy Samberg and his Portlandia cohort, Carrie Brownstein — in a fun, funky summertime anthem.

Episode MVP: Larry David
Thanks for your service to comedy all season, Larry! Feel free to come back next season as either yourself and/or Vice President Bernie Sanders.

Saturday Night Live airs Saturdays at 11:30 p.m. on NBC