On a night when two of its most beloved alumni made their returns to the show — that would be host Chris Rock and Maya Rudolph, who’ll be playing Kamala Harris this season — it was an alumnus of another storied sketch comedy show who emerged with a plum role. Jim Carrey, of course, got his start on In Living Color; like Harris, he’d been brought on to play a candidate in this year’s presidential election.
Carrey’s take on Joe Biden is far from his first time on Saturday Night Live; Carrey has made memorable appearances before, including as a lascivious R&B singer in “The Worst of Soul Train.”
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Carrey’s take on Biden was joined by Alec Baldwin’s familiar Trump impression and Beck Bennett in the role of Chris Wallace. Bennett did a fine job of channeling Wallace’s exasperation in the actual debate — “Mr. President, if you keep interrupting this debate, I’ll do absolutely nothing about it!” — and having two comedic foils made this one of Baldwin’s better outings as Trump.
As for Carrey, it’s harder to say. At times, he played Biden as a man keeping his own anger in check — with apologies to one of the best sketch comedy takes on a president in recent memory, Carrey played Biden as a man who is also his own anger translator. And, surprising no one, the funniest bits came when Carrey’s penchant for physical comedy came to the foreground.
Throw in a Harry Styles cameo — no, really — and you have a wide-ranging start to Saturday Night Live‘s coverage of the home stretch of the current election.
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