Los Angeles, Oct 2 (IANS): 'Saturday Night Live' flagged off its 48th Season by poking fun at both frequent target former US President Donald Trump, and its own rebuilding period after a summer filled with cast exits and goodbyes, reports Variety.
The sketch starred the premiere's host Miles Teller and cast member Andrew Dismukes as sports stars and brother's Peyton and Eli Manning, in a parody of their 'Monday Night Football' commentary show 'Manningcast'.
Instead of analysing a football game, the two turned their insight into the opening sketch of the new season of 'Saturday Night Live'.
According to Variety, at the top of the sketch, Teller as Peyton addressed the shake ups that the series has gone through other the summer, which saw eight cast members - Chris Redd, Alex Moffat, Aristotle Athari, Melissa Villasenor, Pete Davidson, Kate McKinnon, Aidy Bryant and Kyle Mooney - announce their departures from the long-running sketch comedy series.
"There are a lot of changes at the show, which could be exciting," Teller said, quoted by Variety. "Let's see what they came up with."
But the sketch-within-a-sketch proved to be a typical opening for the programme, with James Austin Johnson reprising his role as Donald Trump in a sketch located at the Mar-a-Lago club during Hurricane Ian.
Although Johnson was joined by Mikey Day, Chloe Fineman, Heidi Gardner and Bowen Yang, the focus was on the Mannings' commentary, with Teller proclaiming that the sketch served "14 attempted jokes, one mild laugh and three chuckles."
Variety adds that the sketch also acknowledged the cast changes that mark the season by having Teller - following a purposefully weak impression from Heidi Gardner as South Dakota Governor Kristi Noem - bemoan the lack of memorable political figures in the sketch: "What about a fun impression like Anthony Fauci or Lindsey Graham or Rudy Giuliani?"
"Those were all Kate McKinnon," Dismukes replied, referencing the now-departed long running cast member.
Stopping by for surprise appearances were three-time 'SNL' host - and Teller's 'Top Gun: Maverick' co-star - Jon Hamm as a guest commentator with the Mannings, and a somewhat inexplicable appearance from Shaun White in the sketch-within-a-sketch.