Weekend Update Summer Edition: Bill Hader stars as Anthony Scaramucci

Tonight marked our first edition of the Weekend Update Summer Edition of Saturday Night Live, and it took zero time to get to the headlines. There was a LOT to mock when it comes to the events of the past few weeks — though somewhere along the line, it’s probably also fine to be a little bit terrified about some of it when you consider the circumstances. After all, we’ve got Donald Trump engaging in testy battles against North Korea in the media, and a wide array of different scandals to boot.

It was pretty clear almost right away what some of the strengths and weaknesses of this half-hour special were going to be. The jokes are still funny, and we think that for Michael Che in general, this offered him more time to get into some of his commentary. This is, by our estimation, some of what he does best.

Unfortunately, we cannot say that this format works the best for some of the correspondent segments. While it was fun to see the show’s version of Eric and Donald Trump Jr. again, the segment went on a little bit long — especially when we started to bring out some of the props.

Here’s the good news: We had a chance to see Bill Hader video in as Anthony Scaramucci, the former White House Communications Director who really only held the job for just eleven days. We didn’t think that we were going to get to see this character, but we did … and it was wonderful. The biggest challenge for the producers is just that he was in the headlines for just eleven days, but somehow the show found a way to milk this for every second possible. It was nice to have Hader back, given that we haven’t seen a cameo from him on the show in a while.

Also, his appearance totally justifies the existence of the show, given that we wouldn’t have gotten this cameo otherwise. The Mooch will be old news in a few weeks.

Oh, and we also got LaVar Ball

Kenan Thompson came out with an inspired take on the Big Baller Brand founder and Lonzo Ball’s father, who mostly just came out and said some ridiculous stuff. Quite possibly the most amazing thing about this segment was that it seemed as though Kenan brought out some real ZO2 shoes for the segment … even though they cost close to $500.

Oh, and bonus points for the Leslie Jones segment as she came on out to talk about her getting in shape — plus a number of other ridiculous things.

What did you think about the start of Weekend Update Summer Edition? Is this something that you can see yourself watching in the future? Share in the comments below!

Also, head over to the link here for some other news when it comes to SNL, including some of the recent headlines when it comes to Sean Spicer and whether or not he could turn up later this season. (Photo: NBC.)