Posted in: NBC, Peacock, TV | Tagged: saturday night live, snl

SNL Cold Open: Lin-Manuel Miranda's Hamilton Gets Shut Down by Trump

Lin-Manuel Miranda returned as Alexander Hamilton for SNL's Cold Open - just in time to get shut down by James Austin Johnson's Donald Trump.

NBC's Saturday Night Live Season 50 was back this weekend, with Timothée Chalamet (A Complete Unknown) as both host and musical guest – his third time hosting and his first time pulling double duty on SNL. How did tonight kick-off? The cold open kicked off with our Founding Fathers signing the Declaration of Independence, with Mikey Day's John Hancock talking about being the most in danger because he signed so big. Before we know it, Lin-Manuel Miranda is back as Alexander Hamilton. "I say, our lives matter not if we lose them in the cause of liberty. What matters is the nation we built. Because in America, all men are created equal. America, not England, we do win the sequel, and we will have leaders, but no one thing in America, we will never have a king," Miranda proclaims, kicking in with a smooth musical number – until James Austin Johnson's Donald Trump shuts the performance ("Never say never. Kidding, though in many ways I am not. I'm in my king era. But just like the founding fathers, I am creating a new country as well, and just like them, we're doing it very whitely") with a personal report card of just how destructive his first week has been.

In between harassing Miranda over having to be stuck there frozen while he rambles on (and Johnson getting some giggles out of Miranda along the way), Trump checks off a number of his accomplishments – from FOX "News'" Pete Hegseth getting confirmed as Secretary of Defense to rolling back DEI initiative. Bragging that he did more than President Joseph Biden and VP Kamala Harris, he noted that he was bringing the country back to being like The Office (a great joke with a reference to Leslie David Baker's Stanley). Here's a look at a clip from the Cold Open (we'll update with the full sketch when it goes live).

Ladies & Gentlemen … 50 Years of SNL Music Official Trailer Released

With NBC's Saturday Night Live rolling on with Season 50, the big anniversary celebrations are also rolling along. You can check out the four-part docuseries SNL50: Beyond Saturday Night on Peacock, and then there's the big primetime event set for February 16th. Now, here's a look at what Grammy and Academy Award-winning filmmaker Ahmir "Questlove" Thompson and Emmy Award winner Oz Rodriguez have to offer with Ladies & Gentlemen … 50 Years of SNL Music – a celebration of SNL's half-century of musical influence that's set for January 27th at 8 pm ET/PT on NBC (and streaming the next day on Peacock).

For 50 seasons, NBC's Saturday Night Live has served as the premier venue for televised live music performances while continuously pushing boundaries to reimagine the relationship between music and comedy. Ladies & Gentlemen … 50 Years of SNL Music will feature untold stories behind the culture-defining, groundbreaking, and newsmaking musical performances, sketches, and cameos of the past 50 years. Over the course of the three-hour special broadcast event, viewers will have a chance to hear from quite a few of the folks who impacted SNL's legacy.

In terms of musicians, we're looking at Bad Bunny, DJ Breakout, Elvis Costello, Miley Cyrus, Billie Eilish & Finneas, Dave Grohl, Debbie Harry & Chris Stein, Mick Jagger, Dua Lipa, Darryl DMC McDaniels, Tom Morello, Kacey Musgraves, Olivia Rodrigo, MC Sha-Rock, Paul Simon, Chris Stapleton, Justin Timberlake, Lee Ving, and Jack White.

On the SNL side, we will be hearing from Lorne Michaels, Fred Armisen, Conan O'Brien, Eli Brueggemann,  Jane Curtin, Jimmy Fallon, Al Franken, Josiah Gluck, Bill Hader, Steve Higgins, Marci Klein, Melanie Malone, Tom Malone, Mary Ellen Matthews, Eddie Murphy, Ego Nwodim, Liz Patrick, Leon Pendarvis, Lenny Pickett, Joe Piscopo, Andy Samberg, Brian Siedlecki, Akiva Schaffer, Paul Shaffer, Sarah Sherman, Howard Shore, Robert Smigel, Jorma Taccone, Kenan Thompson, Maya Rudolph, Hal Willner, and Bowen Yang.

"Everyone knows the most famous 'SNL' appearances, whether it's Elvis Costello, Prince, or the Beastie Boys, but they're the tip of a huge iceberg," Thompson shared in a statement when details on the special were released. "The process of going back through the incredible archival footage was like being in a time machine, DeLorean or other. I'm so happy I went on the trip and now get to share it with everyone." Lorne Michaels, Ahmir "Questlove" Thompson, Zarah Zohlman, Erin David, Dave Sirulnick, Jon Kamen, Meredith Bennett, Alexander H. Browne, Shawn Gee, and Tariq Trotter serve as executive producers – with Oz Rodriguez serving as a producer. The special is produced by Two One Five Entertainment, RadicalMedia, and Broadway Video.

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