'SNL' Recap: The Bernie & Larry Show

Over the years, numerous political candidates have passed through the Saturday Night Live studio to mingle with their on-camera dopplegangers. Hillary met Amy…and also Kate. Sarah met Tina. And Donald met Taran and Darrell at the same time. Well, tonight, Bernie finally met Larry. As in Larry David, the co-creator of Seinfeld, the creator/star of Curb Your Enthusiasm, and the guy who has been slaying audiences for months now as an even crankier version of cranky Democratic Presidential contender, Bernie Sanders.

Fresh off his virtual tie with Hillary Clinton in last week’s Iowa caucuses — and before polls open in New Hampshire on Tuesday — Sanders materialized in Studio 8H for a sketch set aboard a Titanic-esque sinking ship. David played a passenger who disagrees with the captain’s order to save women and children first, claiming that his personal wealth entitles him to a seat in the lifeboat. Enter “Democratic socialist” Sanders to argue against the 1 percent receiving preferential treatment and take a shot at a certain Republican rival’s pronunciation of the word “huge.” In the end, the ship makes it safely into the New York harbor, where Larry turns down Bernie’s offer to share a cab. “I think we’ve talked enough.” Except the conversation wasn’t completely through — Bernie hung around to introduce the night’s musical act, The 1975.

David’s recent run as Sanders — culminating in his first-ever hosting gig — represents his grand return to SNL, a show he famously toiled on for a single season as a writer in the ‘80s, getting only a solitary sketch on the air. (So the legend goes, he actually quit the show following his first episode, only to return to work a few days later with nary a comment — an experience he appropriated for a famous Seinfeld episode.) But time, not to mention the success of Seinfeld and Curb, has clearly healed any of those decades-old wounds. In fact, David semi-jokingly blamed himself for not clicking with SNL the first time around. “I auditioned for this show many, many years ago, and I was terrible,” he remarked in his suitably cantankerous monologue. “Those were the days, when I was just a poor schmuck. As opposed to now — now I’m a rich prick!”

The 68-year-old comedian also warned the audience that, despite their initial excitement at spending time in this particular rich prick’s company, they’ll likely end up disappointed. “That’s what I do — I disappoint people.” He wouldn’t even promise that they had a great show in store. “Why raise expectations? What I should be saying is the show is so-so, and if it’s good you can be surprised.” Turns out he was right to warn us: as an episode of The Bernie & Larry Show, the show was stellar. As an episode of SNL, it was totally so-so.

Best Bernie & Larry Show Sketch: “Bern Your Enthusiasm”

We all knew this was coming, but it didn’t make it any less funny. Bernie Sanders has a classic Larry David moment on the campaign trail, refusing to shake a potential voter’s “germ-infested hand” and kicking off a cascading series of crazy consequences in the process. The skit’s structure is a perfect five-minute distillation of a typical Curb misadventure, and the SNL crew channeled David’s supporting cast expertly, with Cecily Strong’s dead-on Susie Essman impression being a particular standout. Since it’s the closest we’ll get to another episode (let alone a whole season) of that series for awhile, be sure to savor every minute.

Best SNL Sketch: “Totino’s”

A housewife’s cheerful pitch about keeping her football-loving hubby and his pals fed with pizza rolls takes a hard right turn into X-Files territory. The gradual transformation from glossy ad to Body Snatchers-like horror movie was timed just right. We’d love to see Mulder and Scully investigate this particular mystery.

Worst Sketch: “Last Call at Donnelly’s”
Kate McKinnon can do pretty much anything on SNL…except make this recurring sketch work. To be fair, its success depends just as heavily on her scene partner, and so far only she and Louis C.K. have come the closest to pulling it off. Larry David is good at many things, but being Louis C.K. isn’t one of them.

Episode MVP: Derek Zoolander and Hansel

The most fashionable of all male fashionistas offered their typically skewed judgments on the current political race. Honestly, this was funnier than anything we’ve seen of Zoolander 2 so far.

Saturday Night Live airs weekly at 11:35 p.m. on NBC.