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SNL Second-Guessing: When SNL Got Played by Nikki Haley & More (VIDEO)

In SNL Second-Guessing, we're still wondering what the point of having Nikki Haley appear in February's Ayo Edebiri/Jennifer Lopez show was.

Welcome back to another edition of SNL Second-Guessing, where we look back at an episode of NBC's Saturday Night Live Season 49 (based on the show being repeated during the summer off-season) and spotlight a sketch or a situation that deserved a bit more attention. Sometimes, it's for good reasons – as was the case with our first three. To kick things off, we looked at the "Moulin Rouge" sketch from March 9th's Josh Brolin-hosted and Ariana Grande-performing show. Following that, we looked at the "Please Don't Destroy – We Got Too High (ft. Travis Scott)" sketch from March 30th's Ramy Youssef-hosted and Travis Scott-performing show. From there, we discussed the "Jumanji" sketch from April 6th's Kristen Wiig-hosted and Raye-performing show. Other times, it could be for not-so-good reasons, as was the case with the "CNN Town Hall South Carolina" Cold Open from February 3rd's Ayo Edebiri-hosted and Jennifer Lopez-performing show – when then-GOP POTUS candidate Nikki Haley played SNL hard.

In the sketch, CNN's King Charles hosts Gayle King (Punkie Johnson) and Charles Barkley (Kenan Thompson) hosted a town hall for Donald Trump (James Austin Johnson). After a number of the cast did a solid job impersonating a whole lot of horrible people, Haley made a guest appearance as a "concerned South Carolina voter" to get into some awkward back-and-forths with "Trump." If the sketch left you feeling like her campaign had used & abused SNL to get what it wanted – some funny on-screen time to make their candidate appear more human and "non-Trump" – you were definitely not alone. At least Edebiri brought up Haley's Civil War/slavery controversy, with the GOPer still unable to get across a coherent response.

We're still not sure why she was invited. Has SNL adopted more of a "Michael Jordan" approach? "Even right-wing Republicans like to laugh, right?" That's a far cry from the days when SNL wore its political beliefs on its sleeve. For example, during the first season, the long-running late-night sketch comedy/music series had President Gerald Ford's press secretary, Ron Neesen, as a host – with the writers legendarily using Neesen's show to pretty much help torpedo Ford's election chances. Maybe EP Lorne Michaels truly believed that Haley was a legit alternative to Trump – it wasn't like she wasn't willing to throw punches at Trump during her run at the nomination. If that was the reason, then it's even more disappointing (though not surprising) that Haley would eventually pledge her political worship to Trump – but not before SNL helped give her even more mainstream exposure.

After running down the top live and filmed sketches from the recent season, we're getting a look at the best feature segments from Colin Jost and Michael Che's anchor desk. Here's a look at the Top 5 Most-Watched Season 49 "Weekend Update" Features: (5) "Chloe Fineman's 'Save the Last Dance' Holiday Gift (December 9, 2023), (4) "JoJo Siwa on Gay Pop and Her 'Bad Girl' Era" (May 4, 2024), (3) "Caitlin Clark on the WNBA Draft" (April 13, 2024), (2) "Jada Pinkett Smith on Her Marriage to Will Smith" (October 21, 2023), and (1) "Deion Sanders on Coaching at University of Colorado":

And if you haven't had a chance to check out what Saturday Night Network has going on over at its YouTube channel, Jon Schneider and James Stephens are hosting a series that explores the long-running late-night sketch comedy/music series season-by-season. Here's a look at what they had to say about SNL's first three seasons:

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