'SNL': Billy Porter, Lin-Manuel Miranda and Woody Harrelson Guest Star in CNN Town Hall Cold Open

Saturday Night Live brought in another special guest for this week's cold open. Last week, Matthew [...]

By Daniel S. Levine

Saturday Night Live brought in another special guest for this week's cold open. Last week, Matthew Broderick was brought in to play Secretary of State Mike Pompeo, while the Season 45 premiere featured Alec Baldwin as President Donald Trump. This week, Lorne Michaels brought in Pose star Billy Porter to introduce the 2020 Democratic presidential candidates for a CNN town hall. Hamilton creator Lin-Manuel Miranda stopped by to play Julian Castro, while Woody Harrelson played Vice President Joe Biden again.

The sketch parodied the Democratic candidates' efforts to appeal to the LGBTQ community during the campaign. It also featured Kate McKinnon as Massachusetts Sen. Elizabeth Warren, Colin Jost as South Bend, Illinois Mayor Pete Buttigieg and Chris Redd as New Jersey Sen. Cory Booker.

McKinnon's part as Warren parodied the viral moment from this week's CNN town hall when she responded to a question about how to respond to those who do not support same-sex marriage.

"How would you respond if someone said to you, I'm old-fashioned and my faith teaches that marriage is between one man and one woman?" Beck Bennett asked.

"I'm gonna assume it's a guy asking," Warren replied.

"Oh snap, the library is open and Miss Thing is about to get read," Porter chimed in.

"I would say, sir, tell me the bus stop, because I want to know where you get off," Warren continued as she put on a pair of pink sunglasses. "If someone doesn't want to serve gay people at their small business, I bet that's not the only thing that's small. And when people think gay and trans people shouldn't be included in civil rights act protections, why I wish their parents had to use protection."

McKinnon then took her Warren hair off and threw it into the audience.

Later as Castro, Miranda apologised for not being gay and promised to do better in the future. "However, I am Latino, which we can all agree is something. Look, I'm young. I'm diverse. I'm Latino-bama."

Harrelson came in last, reprising his role from last week's episode. His Biden once again went way too far to appeal and instead just made himself look out of touch.

Previously, the SNL cold opens this season focused on the fallout of the House of Representatives' impeachment inquiry, which was launched late last month after a whistleblower reported on Trump's call with Ukrainian President Volodymy Zelensky. In the call, Trump pressured Zelenzky to investigate Hunter Biden and the former vice president.

This week's guest host is Stranger Things star David Harbour, with "Havana" singer Camila Cabello as the musical performer.

Saturday Night Live's 45th season includes two new cast members, Bowen Yang and Chloe Fineman. Yang has made the biggest impression so far, having joined the show last season as a writer and played Kim Jong Un in Sanra Oh's episode. This year, he played Kim in the season premiere and got a stand-out "Weekend Update" sketch as Chinese trade representative Chen Biao, parodying Trump's trade war with China.

Pete Davidson is still a member of the SNL cast, but he has been missing so far. The comedian is working on James Gunn's The Suicide Squad, which just recently started production.

New episodes of SNL air on NBC 11:30 p.m. ET on Saturdays.

Photo credit: NBC

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