Larry David

You can’t have Julia Louis-Dreyfus host SNL without at least some reference to her Seinfeld past — especially when you bring Larry David back to reprise his role as presidential candidate Bernie Sanders. In this week’s debate-themed cold open, Sanders and Kate McKinnon’s Hillary Clinton indulge in their usual caricature shenanigans and cartoonish sparring, this time with cameos from a couple of beloved sitcoms of NBC’s past.

Around this time last year, SNL presented a commercial parody centering around Totino’s Pizza Rolls, just in time for the Super Bowl. And it was a nasty piece of business, tearing apart the image of the NFL’s biggest game as a day for men and imprisoning Vanessa Bayer’s indefatigable housewife in the kitchen, where she was simply tasked with warming up more disgusting food. So when SNL aired another Totino’s sketch in last night’s episode, we simply assumed it would be a carbon copy of the first one. Boy, were we wrong.

And like that, Vermont senator Bernie Sanders became the third presidential hopeful to appear on SNL this season. While Donald Trump hosted an entire episode last year and Hillary Clinton put in a brief appearance as a bartender counseling Kate McKinnon’s version of her, Sanders’ cameo is a bit more disconnected and bit weirder. Most importantly though, it puts him right next to guest host Larry David, who has been playing him in the show’s political sketches this season.

If you're going to have the great Larry David host a full episode of SNL, there are two obvious areas of parody. First, you simply have to give him more to do as Vermont senator Bernie Sanders, whose unlikely showing in the recent Democratic presidential primaries have made David a regular guest star this season. Second, you need to riff on Curb Your Enthusiasm, his (possibly) late, great HBO sitcom that redefined cringe comedy. And in this case, SNL found a a way to combine the two.

It’s kind of amazing that Larry David has never hosted SNL, and up until recently he had never really appeared on the show, either (save for a couple of tiny appearances back in the ’80s). David only managed to get one sketch on the show in the year he spent writing for SNL back in 1984–85, but now, after Seinfeld and Curb Your Enthusiasm and a couple of cold open cameos as Bernie Sanders, David finally has his chance to host. How did he do? Read on for our ranking of this week’s sketches from best to worst.

Seinfeld and Curb Your Enthusiasm creator Larry David has been no stranger to SNL in recent months, between the 40th Anniversary and his Bernie Sanders impression, but this Saturday will be a well-deserved homecoming for the former staff writer. Or not, as David doesn’t really want you to watch anyway, judging by the first promos.

Seinfeld creator Larry David’s SNL cameos as Bernie Sanders (or just plain heckling Trump) have been a highlight of Season 41, and the next step is more than prettay, prettay, prettay good. David will make his hosting debut on February 6, joined by musical guest The 1975.

Last night’s Donald Trump-hosted episode of SNL was exactly what everyone expected it to be, for better or worse. The infamous businessman, reality television star, and Presidential hopeful leaned on his persona, making a handful of obvious Rose O’Donnell jokes in his opening monologue. Thankfully, he was rescued by a few SNL cast members and a few special guests, one of whom said exactly what many viewers probably wanted to say.

Where there's a presidential debate, there’s an SNL cold open. And where there’s an SNL cold open, there’s ample opportunity to slide in surprise guest stars to get the show started on a high note. However, there have only been a few surprise guest stars that have been as perfectly implemented as Larry David, who shows up as Senator Bernie Sanders to parody the recent Democratic debate. Oh, and Alec Baldwin shows up as Jim Webb, but Baldwin actually lives backstage at SNL, so his presence isn’t quite as exciting.

Any Curb Your Enthusiam fan well-knows that Larry David comes and goes as he pleases, with HBO extending open invitations to return whenever the Seinfeld creator has a new idea. We thought we’d made peace with waiting, but a new report suggests David has begun discussing a possible Curb movie, if not a new season.