Adam Driver Returns in ‘Saturday Night Live’ Season 44 Premiere, But Matt Damon Steals the Show as Brett Kavanaugh

September 30, 2018

Adam Driver Hosted Saturday Night Live

Saturday Night Live is back for another season, and the 44th season kicked off with Star Wars franchise star Adam Driver returning as host. Of course Adam Driver was fantastic, but Matt Damon stole the show in the cold open as Supreme Court justice nominee Brett Kavanaugh.

But what about the rest of the Saturday Night Live season premiere? For the most part this was quite the average episode, but that’s not to say there weren’t some great moments thanks to the passionate performances from Adam Driver in every single character he plays. So without further adieu, let’s run through the best and worst sketches of the Adam Driver hosted Saturday Night Live.

The Best

Kavanaugh Hearing – Since the United States Senate Committee on the Judiciary was all anyone could talk about this week thanks to the testimony of Dr. Christine Blasey Ford and Supreme Court justice nominee Brett Kavanaugh, of course SNL was going to tackle the hot topic, and thankfully, they didn’t disappoint.

Matt Damon continued the growing string of guest stars playing the rotating chair of headline-makers out of Washington DC by taking the role of the perpetually loud, angry and sarcastic Brett Kavanaugh, and you couldn’t have asked for a better send-up of this walking calamity. Plus, Rachel Dratch popped in too, along with a cardboard cutout of Alyssa Milano, and the cast did a fine job of lampooning the more outlandish of the Senate personalities on the committee. It’s easily one of the best cold opens SNL has done during the current administration.

80s Party – Speaking of being haunted by mistakes from the 1980s, this sketch takes the usual epilogue-style wrap-up from the end of high school and college party movies to explain what happened to all these people in the years following this party. But since we’re in a time of being held responsible for our past transgressions, all of these epilogue factoids paint a picture of careers and lives ruined due to their childish behavior. The idea is clever, but it does raise of the question of which of the irresponsible mistakes we made in our younger years should come back to haunt us. Sexual assault is a no-brainer, but what about all the other irreponsible teenage behavior

Career Day – Here’s a prime example of how Adam Driver’s talents as an actor can make comedy that much better thanks to his dedication to playing a character so passionately. The crazed energy poured into this character makes his hilarious in such an authentic way, so much so that Pete Davidson can’t help but break character a few times as Driver shouts wildly for everyone to hear.