SNL: Mitt Romney, Post-Election

The 2012 presidential election is over, which means that Saturday Night Live will have to find other major events to skewer for the next four years. Last night's cold open not only felt like an appropriate climax to all of this season's political sketches, it felt like a tribute to Jason Sudeikis' always great Mitt Romney, who, much like his real life is counterpart, will soon vanish from the public eye.

The sketch finds Romney alone on the balcony of his enormous mansion on election night, hiding from his various guests and ignoring the party in his honor. Since he's just lost his bid for the presidency, he indulges himself in the only way that a man of his particular faith can -- he breaks into his secret stash of milk. The scene finds him visited by various members of his family and staff, from his loving wife Anne to his identical (and terrifying) sons to Karl Rove, who gets what every Republican and Democrat in the country agrees he has coming to him. The sketch also features the line "Paul Ryan is performing feats of strength in the drawing room!", so it's already an instant winner.

What's most interesting about this sketch is how it chooses to not twist the knife. SNL hasn't been especially kind to Mr. Romney over the past few months, depicting him as a loud, out-of-touch moron, but last night was different. Although there is plenty of fun had at his expense, the scene is surprisingly somber and sweet and concludes with a cheesy/romantic moment between the former governor of Massachusetts and his wife.

Well, here's to four more years of Jay Pharoah's President Obama impression!