'SNL' opens Season 47 with former Trump impersonator debuting as Biden

After winning eight Emmys last month, including the variety sketch series award for the fifth consecutive year, "Saturday Night Live" returned to Studio 8H in New York City for the live premiere of its 47th season on October 2. Hollywood's funny man Owen Wilson was the host and Kacey Musgraves, the musical guest.

It was not an easy task for the newcomer, according to Variety.com, to take on the opening. He had the unenviable task of summarising the last few months of U.S. politics in a few short minutes.

And how was his summer? Bad, said Johnson in his Biden avatar. "Not Cuomo bad, but definitely not Afghanistan good," he added. "Everyone keeps razzing me about that drone strike, but on the bright side, I went through the entire summer without falling down the stairs once."

He commented on Broadway being back, but noted that so was the Taliban. "You win some, you lose some," he said. He also drew comparisons to Trump, noting that, "I'm like an oil change; you don't think about me until you absolutely have to."

Longtime cast members Cecily Strong, who portrayed the iconoclastic Democratic Senator from Arizona, Kyrsten Sinema, and Aidy Bryant, who played the Democratic Senator from West Virginia, Joe Manchin, joined Johnson in the opening, as did Ego Nwodim, appearing as Member of the House of Representatives Ilhan Omar, and Melissa Villasenor, as Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez, who spearheads the Progressive faction of the Democratic lawmakers.

Pete Davidson popped in at the end as former New York Governor Andrew Cuomo, while Alex Moffat showed up as the Senate Majority Leader, Chuck Schumer, Democrat from New York.

Of course, the latter had to comment on Ocasio-Cortez's Met Gala moment, in which she wore a dress that said 'Tax the Rich' and "then spent all night partying with the rich. "Oops".

Johnson follows in the footsteps of his new co-star Moffat, who previously played the President after taking over from special guest star Jim Carrey. Others who played Biden on the series include Kevin Nealon, Jason Sudeikis, Woody Harrelson, and John Mulaney.