'SNL' plays Family Feud Election Edition as Ariana Grande hosts

Happy Sunday during election season! It's time for another highlights post of last night's Saturday Night Live beginning, like the show, with Family Feud Election 2024 Cold Open.

Host Steve Harvey (Kenan Thompson) welcomes key players in the 2024 election, like Kamala Harris (Maya Rudolph), Doug Emhoff (Andy Samberg), Tim Walz (Jim Gaffigan) and Joe Biden (Dana Carvey), to face off against Donald Trump (James Austin Johnson), Donald Trump Jr. (Mikey Day) and JD Vance (Bowen Yang) in a game of Family Feud.

Also Chloe Fineman as Kaitlan Collins, Dana Carvey as Joe Biden, and no one as Melania Trump. Too bad, it could have been Heidi Gardner, but it was probably funnier that she didn't show. Here's to hoping that the election turns out like the game with the Democrats winning.

Now to make fun of the week's news on Weekend Update: Trump Agrees to Fox News Town Hall with All-Women Audience.

Weekend Update anchors Colin Jost and Michael Che tackle the week's biggest news, like Trump confirming he wouldn't agree to a second debate against Kamala Harris.

On the one hand, congratulations to Kamala Harris and Tim Walz on raising one billion dollars. On the other, my wife and I are looking forward to no longer receiving fundraising texts and emails from the campaign.

A possible subway series wasn't the only story covered last night. Watch Weekend Update: LeBron James and Son Bronny Make NBA History.

Weekend Update anchors Colin Jost and Michael Che tackle the week's biggest news, like the Supreme Court declining to hear R. Kelly's appeal in his sex crime case.

The R. Kelly and Diddy news is enough to qualify this as the Sunday entertainment feature, but there will be more over the jump.

The comedy news report continued with Weekend Update: Monica a Happy Amazon Employee on Prime Day.

Monica, a happy Amazon employee (Ego Nwodim) stops by Weekend Update to discuss Amazon hitting a record number of orders on Prime Day.

I'm flashing back to Vox and PBS ask 'Why do we have grass lawns?'

Today is Prime Day, but I'm not feeling like recounting a tale of the Retail Apocalypse that involves Amazon.

Looks like I couldn't escape the promotional "holiday" this year; it caught up to me via SNL. I could have waited until Black Friday/Buy Nothing Day.

Now for the rest of last night's entertainment news in the final segment of Weekend Update: Noel Gallagher and Liam Gallagher on Oasis' Reunion Tour.

Noel Gallagher (James Austin Johnson) and Liam Gallagher (Sarah Sherman) stop by Weekend Update to discuss their long awaited Oasis reunion tour.

I'm glad Sarah Sherman returned. I was worried when I didn't see her in any of the preview images to last weekend's videos.

I concluded The BBC World Service examines 'How the US election could change our climate' plus MSNBC on Project 2025 and climate by geeking out over "Ariana Grande and Stevie Nicks!" Even so, I was slightly disappointed Grande wouldn't be doing double duty like Dua Lipa. I shouldn't have been worried, as she sang and did her trademark impressions in her monologue.

Second-time host Ariana Grande talks about filming Wicked before performing a song about keeping things low-key on the show.

It's been eight years since her first appearance? My, time flies. Also, may the second time be the charm.

I didn't see any commercial parodies in last week's CityNerd examines Agenda 47 and cities in 'And You Thought Project 2025 Was Bad' and if there were any, I'm sorry I missed them. Last night's episode made up for it with two of them featuring Grande, beginning with Celine Dion Sports Promo, where she sings while doing an impression.

Celine Dion (Ariana Grande) stars in a UFC promo.

More sports humor!

That was the pre-recorded commercial parody I'm used to seeing. Now for a live one, complete with performers charmingly breaking character, Maybelline.

Jennifer Coolidge (Chloe Fineman) gets help from her reflection (Ariana Grande) while preparing for a date.

Plus bonus Carvey!

These clips serve as demonstrations of the commercial parodies being one of the best parts of SNL. When they're on, they're on, and both of these were ON!

That's a wrap for today's comedy entry. Stay tuned for Indigenous Peoples' Day, Canadian Thanksgiving, and, oh yeah, Columbus Day.