‘SNL’: Michael Che Makes Weekend Update Debut With Flubbed Lines — And Some Laughs

Another season, another Weekend Update team.

Michael Che came out of the gate with a few flubbed lines, but found his footing by the end of his Update debut, when the Daily Show alum got to riff on familiar subject: politics.

He and co-anchor Colin Jost got an assist from Kenan Thompson to give some words of comfort to President Barack Obama.

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“On the bright side, after the midterm election, pretty much nothing you do will matter. Then you can be the first black president I was hoping for,” Che said. “You think people flipped out about your tan suit? Wait until they see your purple suit.” 

The real breakout of the Weekend Update segment was Pete Davidson, who killed it  as the show’s expert young person. (The newcomer is 20). He performed an extended bit on how much money he’d be willing to go down on a man for, and somehow it worked. 

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Earlier, Che also welcomed the woman he replaced as co-anchor, with Cecily Strong returning as The Girl You Wish You Hadn’t Started a Conversation With at a Party to discuss the Ebola crisis. 

Che seemed uncomfortable doing the impersonation of a news anchor that many Weekend Update co-anchors have chosen to do in recent years. Ditto for when he had to play the straight man to Strong. But he came alive when doing what he did so well on The Daily Show — riffing on politics, not reading news from a cue card. 

Che served on SNL as a writer last season. He left his post as a Daily Show correspondent to take the job. His appointment marked the latest in a string of shake-ups at the desk, which over the past few years has seen Seth Meyers man it himself, Meyers team up with Strong, and Strong paired with Jost. 

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