It’s a wrap for season 41 of “Saturday Night Live”;, with former cast-member Fred Armisen hosting a star-studded episode featuring return visits from “SNL”; alums Maya Rudolph, Jason Sudeikis and Andy Samberg.
For the season’s final cold open, Donald Trump was nowhere to be seen in a sketch that focused on Kate McKinnon’s Hillary Clinton having a late-night beer with rival Bernie Sanders (played to hilarious perfection by Larry David).
Not over until Larry David says it’s over. #SNLFinale https://t.co/IKD8Z25ggN
— Saturday Night Live (@nbcsnl) May 22, 2016
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Armisen’s monologue was a reminder of of the wonderful weirdness he brought us when he was a cast member as he performed highlights from his one-man show, “Love, From New York, I Did Saturday’s Right: Fun, Fame & Fred On The 17th Floor”;.
During the lengthy monologue, Armisen recreated his journey from Long Island nobody to “SNL”; star, re-enacting his audition and asking an audience member, “Is this a dream?”; (to which there is apparently no correct response).
Armisen was also featured as one of a trio of actors who present a historical (and wildly inappropriate) look at explorers Lewis and Clark for a classroom full of students.
Then it was time for a special guest appearance from Andy Samberg in a new SNL Digital Short, with Samberg as pop star Conner4Real in a preview of the upcoming Lonely Island movie “Popstar: Never Stop Never Stopping”; via the music video for “Finest Girl”; (featuring Armisen as Osama Bin Laden).
Armisen displayed his gift for physical comedy in a sketch that saw him as the weird new girlfriend of a character played by “SNL”; alum Jason Sudeikis, Regine, who exhibits strange physical responses to various romantic stimuli.
Easily the evening’s funniest laugh-out-loud sketch, “Farewell Mr. Bunting”; is a spoof of Robin Williams’ “Dead Poets Society”; that takes an unexpected twist that recalls Dan Aykroyd’s iconic Julia Child sketch.
Weekend Update featured disturbing summertime memories from Willie (Kenan Thompson) and a hilariously bizarre visit from the just-impeached Brazilian president Dilma Rousseff (played by Maya Rudolph), who can’t hide her attraction to anchor Colin Jost because he looks like “a juicy baby.”;
Armisen featured in a sketch about a group of space colonists who were about to perish, with the escape pod holding room for just one of them. Chosen at random to return to Earth, Armisen’s character experiences an excruciatingly awkward exit.
The evening’s final sketch brilliantly gathered the entire cast onstage, along with a number of special guests (including the “SNL”; returnees and Armisen’s “Portlandia”; co-star Carrie Brownstein) as an Allman Brothers-style Southern rock band singing the anthemic “Summertime in Fayetteville”;.
“Saturday Night Live”; will return with season 42 in the fall; in the meantime, you can watch reruns each Saturday at 11:35 p.m. ET/PT on Global, and you can also watch full episodes and individual sketches online.