Hillary Clinton tends bar on ‘Saturday Night Live’ in political season premiere

The greatest part, though, is when the two Hillarys stand up for a quick sing-along of “Lean On Me” that should definitely be worked into Clinton’s presidential campaign ASAP.

The show opened with a sketch about Donald Trump, with Taran Killam playing the mogul in all his bluster. The gimmick: Melania’s praise of her husband’s presidential bona fides surreptitiously illuminates the lunacy of his candidacy. “It’s the only dementia medication prescribed for eleven specific people”. Nor did it deal with her main rival for the Democratic primary, Bernie Sanders, or Vice President Joe Biden’s potential entry into the race. The seeming moral of the punchlines: Can anyone sane really vote for anyone but Hillary?

“So, Hillary”, Clinton asks McKinnon, “what brings you here tonight?” The jokes were weak, but the real Donald didn’t seem to care.

Set ’em up, Hillary Rodham Clinton, and lend an ear to the troubles of a presidential candidate. She has to look like a person who does not exist outside the normal parameters of human behavior. I wouldn’t mind if that happened, if for no other reason than Jones is a comic presence unlike no other and deserves more opportunities to anchor sketches in the future.

“I love the impersonations of me….” McKinnon says she’s blowing off steam after a “hard couple of 22 years”, as Clinton pours her drink.

Throughout the skit, McKinnon pokes fun at the candidate, like when asked what she does for a living and McKinnon answered with, “First, I am a grandmother”. You know she’s an inherently uncomfortable campaigner. “What’s important is getting it right”, Clinton said.

Hanging out with her lookalikes is an old trick for Clinton.

In 2008, it was Amy Poehler. But Clinton, the amateur, delivered her lines cleanly and with a straight face and good timing. The Democratic frontrunner did not disappoint, and she got what she came for. Clinton played the bartender, Val, an “ordinary citizen who believes the Keystone Pipeline will destroy our environment”.

“Oh, thanks. That’s the first time I’ve ever heard that”, the real Clinton answered. “Well, you supported it pretty soon”, real Clinton said. Here, the take is much more apocalyptic.

But McKinnon wouldn’t let up, saying, “Could have been sooner”. It is Kate McKinnon, one of the “SNL” cast members, whom we will see to enact opposite Clinton. But it has a, by this point, long tradition of taking the side of at least one politician. He said that he enjoyed it, but that Clinton’s hair – for decades a topic of political chatter and analysis – was “terrible”.

But perhaps the peak of all this was Fey’s sermon from the Weekend Update pulpit demanding atonement from those who sexistly conflated Clinton’s get-shit-done demeanor with bitchiness.

Saturday Night Live has always taken full advantage of the election cycle and major national events to pull maximum humor out of the cluster that is American politics.