'SNL' Introduces New Joe Biden in Season 47 Premiere Cold Open

By Daniel S. Levine

Saturday Night Live kicked off its 47th season this weekend with a cold open that skewered more Washington chaos. New cast member James Austin Johnson was introduced as the new President Joe Biden in a sketch parodying the Democrats' efforts to reach an agreement on passing Biden's agenda.

The sketch began like a Biden monologue, with him asking the audience how their summer was. "Mine was bad. Not Cuomo bad, but definitely not Afghanistan good," Biden said. He also introduced the Democratic politicians he needs support from to get his legislation passed, Sens. Kyrsten Sinema (Cecily Strong) and Joe Manchin (Aidy Bryant), and Reps. Ilhan Omar (Ego Nwodim) and Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez (Melissa Villasenor). Sen. Chuck Schumer (Alex Moffat) also popped in at the end to remind people he exists.

This is the first season without Beck Bennett since 2013, as he surprisingly left over the summer. While many expected Pete Davidson, Cecily Strong, Kate McKinnon, Aidy Bryant, or Kenan Thompson would leave based on the Season 46 finale, all of them returned for the new season.

The season premiere featured Owen Wilson as the guest host for the first time, with country music star Kacey Musgraves making her first appearance on the show since May 2018. This season will also feature a massive cast again, as three comedians were picked to replace the two stars leaving. Aristotle Athari, James Austin Johnson, and Sarah Sherman joined this season, while Bennett and Lauren Holt left. Bowen Yang and Chloe Fineman were promoted to repertory players, while Andrew Dismukes and Punkie Johnson returned as featured players. Mickey Day, Heidi Garner, Alex Moffat, Kyle Mooney, Chris Redd, Ego Nwodim, and Melissa Villasenor are also back. Michael Che and Colin Jost are serving as "Weekend Update" anchors again.

While the casting changes got all the attention, there was also a major behind-the-scenes move. Lorne Michaels hired Liz Patrick, a longtime Ellen DeGeneres Show director, to replace the retiring Don Roy King as the show's new director. King directed SNL for 15 years and plans to give Patrick the reins during the season.

New SNL episodes air on NBC at 11:30 p.m. ET Saturday nights. The Oct. 9 episode will feature Kim Kardashian West and Halsey, while Rami Malek and Young Thug will star in the Oct. 16 episode. The Oct. 23 episode will feature former SNL cast member Jason Sudeikis and singer Brandi Carlile. 

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