SNL opens with "Hillary Clinton" singing, no Donald Trump character

ajc.com

Credit: Jennifer Brett

Credit: Jennifer Brett

The opening of the first "Saturday Night Live" since last week's election felt like more of a requiem than a comic bit. Hillary Clinton, played by Kate McKinnon, sang "Hallelujah" by the late Leonard Cohen.

The Donald Trump character, played in recent weeks by Alec Baldwin, didn't appear.

"I'm not giving up, and neither should you," McKinnon said after her performance.

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“I’m sorry, Kate,” Baldwin said in the middle of a Trump rant. “I just hate yelling all this stuff at you like this.”

“Yeah. I know, right?” she responded. “This whole election has been so mean.”

“I just feel gross all the time. Don’t you guys feel gross all the time about this?” Baldwin said to the audience’s applause.

“You know what I think can help us? Let’s get out of here,” McKinnon said, and they bolted out the door. After galavanting through Times Square the two returned to the stage.

“And now this it’s time to get out there and vote,” Baldwin said. “None of this will have mattered if you don’t get out there and vote.”

“And we can’t tell you who to vote for,” McKinnon added, “but on Tuesday we all get a chance to decide what kind of country we want to live in.”