‘SNL’ Highlights: Alec Baldwin Returns to Play Bret Baier

Alec Baldwin, who has hosted Saturday Night Live more times than any other person, returned to Studio 8H last night, Saturday, October 19, for his first big SNL role since 2020.

This time, though, Baldwin wasn’t playing Donald Trump, as he has on the NBC sketch show many times before. Instead, he portrayed Fox News host Bret Baier, who “looks like someone made a businessman in Minecraft,” as Baldwin said.

In host Michael Keaton‘s opening monologue, he was joined by Mikey Day and Andy Samberg dressed as his iconic character, Beetlejuice. Here are more highlights from last night’s episode.

Maya Rudolph’s Kamala Harris sits down with Alec Baldwin’s Bret Baier

Saturday’s cold open recreated Baier’s recent interview with Vice President Kamala Harris, with Baldwin playing the Special Report anchor and Maya Rudolph returning to play the Democratic presidential nominee.

The interview quickly goes hostile, though, with Baier trying to talk over Harris, and Harris not taking it. So she turns to the side to record a TikTok video. “See how I don’t let men interrupt my answers? Very demure, very mindful.”

Andrew Dismukes performs “Hey, Soul Sister”

In the “Forbidden Romance,” a midcentury couple played by Andrew Dismukes and Ego Nwodimtry to get their families to accept their international relationship. Andrew’s character says he has written a song… which, in a big misstep for the young man, turns out to be Train’s “Hey, Soul Sister.” (How have we never heard the “So gangster, I’m so thug” lyric before this sketch called it out?)

SNL goes on a TikTok binge

SNL’s “TikTok” sketch flipped through dozens of spoof clips on the app, including Kenan Thompson doing a taste test (“Today I am trying the Hennessy habanero Fruity Pebble chicken sandwich from Lisa’s Soul Food in Atlanta”), Heidi Gardner explaining life as a trad wife (“Today my husband asked for beef tacos, and I didn’t want to let him down, so I slaughtered our cow and picked the corn myself”), and Chloe Fineman as Call Her Daddy podcast host Alex Cooper(“Today’s topic is when to put a finger in; our guest today is Secretary of Homeland Security Alejandro Mayorkas”).

Billie Eilish takes flight with “Birds of a Feather”

Billie Eilish marked her fourth time as SNL musical guest on Saturday and performed her song “Birds of a Feather,” surrounded by video screens of blue skies, with brother Finneas O’Connell and other musicians playing backup.

For her other performance in the episode, Eilish performed “Wildflower,” another track from her album Hit Me Hard and Soft.

Saturday Night Live, Saturdays, 11:30/10:30c, NBC