Saturday Night Live kicked off its 39th season with two very familiar faces: host Tina Fey. And the wonderful Aaron Paul.
During Saturday’s cold open, which began with Jay Pharoah’s President Barack Obama talking to the public about Obamacare, a friend from New Mexico dropped by to share his story.
Enter “Jesse from New Mexico.”
“I had this friend and he got sick. Like cancer sick. But because it wasn’t Obamacare, he couldn’t afford treatments,” Paul said in full Jesse Pinkman mode (beanie included).
Added Pharoah as Obama, “And keep in mind this was a teacher with a family.”
“So he did what any of us would’ve done,” Paul continued. “He started cooking meth.” (Watch the rest of the cold open, above. Don’t worry, how Breaking Bad ends is still a mystery… until Sunday night).
Paul made two other appearances — one for an e-Meth (think Leonardo DiCaprio’s favorite e-cigarettes) commercial and one on “Weekend Update” with Bobby Moynihan’s Drunk Uncle.
As for Tina Fey, the SNL vet returned to very familiar territory, especially when she visited the “Weekend Update” set.
“You see this man here? This man don’t own you,” Fey told Seth Meyers’ new co-anchor Cecily Strong. “You do you. You in charge.”
Fey’s other gems included a wonderful parody of Girls, playing Hannah’s new roommate, and a bit in “the first used car ad” with season 39 newcomer Mike O’Brien.
Arcade Fire served as musical guests, playing “Reflektor” and “Afterlife” from the band’s upcoming fourth album. The group also appeared in an adorable “New Cast Member or Arcade Fire” sketch with SNL newbies (Lorne Michaels and Fey had the luxury of guessing).
NBC also aired a 30-minute Arcade Fire concert special, Here Comes the Night Time, featuring appearances from Bono, James Franco, Rainn Wilson, Aziz Ansari and others.
Miley Cyrus will be next week’s musical guest and host.
Check back for more highlights from SNL’s season premiere.
