This weekend on Saturday Night Live, Adele hosts with H.E.R. as musical guest

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Hello From Adele

This isn’t Adele’s first Saturday Night Live appearance. In fact, her first appearance in 2008 basically made her a star in America. She wasn’t finding much luck breaking into the music scene in the States, but was fortunate enough that someone at SNL saw her incredible talent, and booked her for the October 18, 2008 episode. Let’s take a step back and establish why this date is significant:

It’s the fall of 2008. George W. Bush’s term in office is coming to an end. And Barack Obama and John McCain are in a heated (for the time, but by today’s standards seems a bit tame) race to the Oval Office. So, like SNL is doing now, they were going all out with the political sketches. This includes the quickly infamous Sarah Palin impression that Tina Fey provided. She wasn’t on SNL anymore, being fully consumed with her own show 30 Rock, but her cameo as Palin was huge. The reaction she got versus the reaction the cast was getting for their presidential impressions, both then and during the 2012 race, is a significant contributor to why today all the big political names are being stunt cast. It drew the CNN audience. It drew the Fox News audience.

So why is this significant for Adele? Tina Fey had been doing the Palin impression for a few weeks. And the real Sarah Palin was announced to appear on the October 18 episode – and she did, alongside Tina Fey. So, people were tuning in to that episode. In terms of ratings, it was the biggest episode they had in 14 years. And Adele was there, to show everyone what she was worth.

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Bringing Everyone Together

Let’s just call it Thanksgiving season – it’s between the Canadian and American Thanksgivings, so we’re always about three weeks away from a Thanksgiving at any time. And Thanksgiving is a time of bringing family together… so they can tear each other apart. Especially in our high-tension political atmosphere of 2020. And Saturday Night Live saw that brewing five years ago, and used it – and Adele – to bring a nation together.

It’s actually kind of scary how this sketch from 2015 is somehow more relevant in 2020. You know, except for the ISIS references. But, can she do it again? Will Adele and Saturday Night Live un-divide the U.S.?

During this election, probably not. But it’s bound to be a good show on October 24 anyway, so tune in to Global at 11.30 et/8.30 pt to watch!

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Saturday Night Live can be streamed live and On Demand on the new Global TV App and on STACKTV. Global is also available through all major TV service providers.