Eminem made his highly-anticipated appearance on the Saturday, November 18, episode of Saturday Night Live, hosted by Chance The Rapper — and both artists put their hearts into their performances.
Here are some of the best moments!
Eminem’s Emotional Medley
The legendary rapper, 45, was joined by singer Skylar Grey for a mash-up of his hits “Walk on Water,” “Stan,” and “Love the Way You Lie.” Dressed in all dark clothing and a gold chain, Eminem looked at home behind the mic — something his fans have been eagerly waiting to see since he dropped out of the spotlight a few years ago.
In a powerful moment, Eminem looked like he was containing his energy from bursting while rapping on new single “Walk on Water.”
Grey also deserves major praise for slaying Beyonce’s verse (which Grey wrote) on “Walk on Water” and Rihanna’s verse of “Love The Way You Lie” — not an easy feat.
Come Back, Barack
Chance, Kenan Thompson, and Chris Redd starred in this skit as De-Von-Tré, a ’90s-inspired R&B group with a serious Boyz II Men/Jodeci vibe. Their music video for their single “Come Back” shows the guys soulfully serenading Barack Obama, singing in the rain, and looking pained.
“Every night I turn the TV on and cry, I say why, I feel like we’re all going to die, so come back, Barack, even though it’s not allowed, we want you back somehow, I need you in my life,” they sing in the chorus.
Thompson shined in this skit while hilariously speaking over the song: ”It’s been a long time, Barack. Almost as long as a guy talked over a record like this. For real, why would you leave us? Oh, ‘cause you had to? Because of the Constitution? But you can come back, right? Oh, you can’t? Because that would undermine the very institutions that we’re barely holding onto as it is? I see. I guess we stuck with this guy then,” he said, referencing Donald Trump.
Later he suggested Michelle Obama or even George Clooney should be President of the United States — before changing his mind about Michelle: “Let’s not put her through that.”
Chance The Rapper’s Thanksgiving Song
This episode served as the first time the “Blessings” singer hosted an episode instead of performing as the musical guest. He opened his monologue by pledging to give $1 million to Chicago public schools. “The only problem is, I talked to my accountant and I do not have it,” Chance remarked, as the audience laughed. “So I need to make some money very fast, but then I realized, there are no good Thanksgiving songs, and you can make some serious money with a holiday hit.”
He then resolved to become the “Mariah Carey of Thanksgiving,” referencing Mariah Carey’s hit “All I Want for Christmas Is You,” before breaking out into a silly song about having to spend the holiday with family, a.k.a. people “you normally fear.”
Pete Davidson on Weekend Update
Pete Davidson joined Colin Jost on Weekend Update to talk about spending Thanksgiving with family in Staten Island, where both of the comedians are from.
“It’s not that I don’t love my family, I do, but at this point, Thanksgiving dinner is a bunch of old people asking me what Kate McKinnon is like, and I honestly don’t know. She never talks to me. Plus, I feel like my hometown doesn’t like me,” Davidson admitted.
“Why wouldn’t they like you? Everyone is so nice,” Jost asked.
“Of course you’d say that, you’re like the most popular person from there,” Davidson replied, before showing hilarious side-by-side reviews of both actors in their hometown newspaper.
“If I had to guess,” he continued while fighting back laughter, “it’s maybe something I said in an interview once, that I wished that when Hurricane Sandy hit Staten Island, it had finished the job.”
He then showed a journalist’s death threat in the New York Post: “Keep talking like that and you’ll be swimming with the fishes — try taking a cue from your fellow SNL cast member Colin Jost, he’s also way better looking than you.”
Wikileaks Cold Open
Alex Moffat’s Eric Trump and Mikey Day’s Donald Trump Jr. met with Julian Assange (played by McKinnon) in a shady parking lot to get some dirt on Hillary Clinton. Moffat’s dim-witted version of Eric Trump is always hilarious, and in this particular cold open, he played the role convincingly as he appeared aloof, despite random outbursts while wearing a Minions backpack.
In a particularly funny moment, Eric prepares to say the iconic “Live from New York” line, but says it wrong, prompting his brother to gently correct him.
Saturday Night Live airs on NBC Saturdays at 11:30 p.m. ET.
