With some major cast shakeups and a slew of new writers, all eye are on Saturday Night Live as it premieres its 51st season on Oct. 4. Gone are Heidi Gardner, Michael Longfellow, Ego Nwodim, Emil Wakin, and Devon Walker. And the opener’s host, Bad Bunny, is embroiled in a controversy as conservative critics have blasted his selection as headliner of the 2026 Super Bowl halftime show. The Grammy-winning Puerto Rican rapper previously hosted the long-running sketch comedy series during season 49, and appeared as musical guest on seasons 46 and 50. Unlike his last time hosting, Bad Bunny won’t be pulling double-duty, as Doja Cat is appearing as musical guest.
Here are the best moments from the Season 51 premiere, from the opening monologue to the funniest sketches.
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COLD OPEN
There’s a lot of politics for Saturday Night Live to catch up on, and the Season 51 cold open satirized Secretary of Defense War Pete Hegseth‘s (Colin Jost) address to military leaders this week. After Hegseth admonished the troops for being the “gayest” and “fattest” military in history, President Donald Trump (James Austin Johnson) showed up to make sure SNL wouldn’t say anything too mean about him. FCC Chair Brendan Carr (Mikey Day) creeped by as Trump gave an update on his summer adventures, including that birthday card he wrote for “a very bad man I’ve never met before.”
OPENING MONOLOGUE
Bad Bunny took to stage 8H and talked about his months-long residency in Puerto Rico, which he wrapped on Sept. 20. One fan, Jon Hamm, loved the concert so much that he showed up in the audience still dressed in the casual beachwear he sported at the performance. Bad Bunny also talked about his upcoming performance at the Super Bowl, which has stirred up controversy among the MAGA crowd. Yet according to a cleverly edited video compilation, it sounds like even the most hardcore conservatives not only love that Bad Bunny’s performing the halftime show, but think he should be elected president.
JEOPARDY SKETCH
Jeopardy is a difficult game for anyone to play, yet it’s especially hard for Duke (Bad Bunny), who finds himself increasingly in the hole as he fails to understand the rules of the game, such as answering in the form of a question and knowing how much to bet on a Daily Double.
BRUNCH SKETCH
Four old friends (Bad Bunny, Mikey Day, Chloe Fineman, and Sarah Sherman) grab brunch together for the first time in years, and they’ve got a lot of catch up on, from what movies they’re excited to see and what music they’ve been enjoying. But while everyone else is excited to see One Battle After Another and Frankenstein, Bad Bunny can’t stop talking about KPop: Demon Hunters. He’s so obsessed with the animated Netflix film that he misses Sherman’s news about being on the Epstein list and Fineman reflecting on writing the controversial Sydney Sweeney American Jeans ad. But Bad Bunny is proven right when demon Bowen Yang shows up, only to be defeated by surprise guests Rumi (Arden Cho), Mira (May Hong), and Zoey (Ji-young Yoo).
SPANISH LANGUAGE SKETCH
In the third century B.C., delegates from across Europe and South America gather to discuss the creation of the Spanish language. As Bad Bunny and Marcello Hernández discuss the intricacies between “words that are boys and words that are girls,” One Battle After Another star Benicio del Toro drops by to suggest the “r’s” last a really long time and they take naps in the middle of the day.
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