First on LateNighter: This year on election eve, NBC invites you to take a break from biting your nails to revisit this election cycle’s best and most memorable election sketches from Saturday Night Live.
In what’s become a quadrennial tradition, the network will air SNL‘s 2024 election special in primetime the night before Election Day.
If history is any guide, the special is likely to largely be a clip show, although some past efforts have seen new wrap-around segments, including most memorably in 2008 when then-Republican presidential candidate John McCain appeared in a new cold open for the special.
Lorne Michaels has already warned us off expecting any cameos from the candidates themselves this year, but their comedy doppelgangers are likely to be all over the special.
Since the start of the season, the show’s cold open has operated much like a show-within-the-show, with Maya Rudolph, Jim Gaffigan, Andy Samberg, and Dana Carvey joining with current cast members James Austin Johnson and Bowen Yang to play out extended election-themed sketches based on the events of the preceding week.
Although they’ve each committed to the show through the election, it remains to be seen whether any of Season 50’s cold open all-stars will recur after the election. Which could make the election special a swan song of sorts for the troupe.
This year’s election special is the first in a series of specials planned for SNL’s milestone 50th season. The show is also planning a new primetime holiday clip show and a series other specials and documentaries leading up to a star-packed three-hour 50th anniversary special on February 16.
SNL’s 2024 election special is set to air Monday November 4th at 10pm. The show is on break this week and returns for its last live pre-election episode on November 2nd with five-time host John Mulaney and musical guest Chappell Roan.
