'Saturday Night Live' premiere features Matt Damon as Brett Kavanaugh
{{#rendered}} {{/rendered}}Lorne Michaels and the cast of SNL accept the award for outstanding variety sketch series for "Saturday Night Live" at the 69th Primetime Emmy Awards on Sunday, Sept. 17, 2017, at the Microsoft Theater in Los Angeles. (Photo by Chris Pizzello/Invision/AP) (Chris Pizzello/Invision/AP)
“Saturday Night Live” began its 44th season premiere with a cold open tackling last week’s Ford-Kavanaugh hearing -- but focused solely on the Kavanaugh portion, with a guest appearance by Matt Damon as the Supreme Court nominee.
The sketch portrayed the judge as a combative, “keg is half-full kind of guy,” and used the nominee’s preference for beer as a running gag throughout.
Cast members Alex Moffat and Cecily Strong appeared as Sens. Chuck Grassley and Diane Feinstein, respectively, awaiting the arrival of Damon, whom they said was “shadowboxing in the bathroom.”
{{#rendered}} {{/rendered}}Damon entered the hearing exuding a furious energy and took his seat before the panel.
“Let me tell you this,” he said. “I’m going to start at an 11. I’m going to take it to about a 15 real quick. First of all I showed this speech to almost no one — not my family, not my friends. … This is my speech. There are others like it, but this is mine. I wrote it myself last night while screaming into an empty bag of Doritos.”
The sketch also covered Kavanaugh’s "beautiful, creepy" diary-like calendars submitted as evidence, his high school yearbook and the definitions of the slang terms used within.
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It also poked fun at the Republicans’ decision to bring in a prosecutor with experience in sexual assault cases.
Cast member Aidy Bryant appeared as “female prosecutor” Rachel Mitchell, who various members of the panel called “the female assistant,” “stewardess” and “Ms. Frizzle.” Bryant reminded them they could just call her “Prosecutor” Mitchell, and drop the “female” from her title.
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Kate McKinnon appeared as Sen. Lindsey Graham, who delivered an impassioned speech in defense of Kavanaugh, wrapped her speech by saying, "This is my audition for Mr. Trump's cabinet and also for a regional production of ‘The Crucible.’"
Damon’s Kavanaugh closed the sketch with shouts of “I busted my buns” and “I went to Yale!” when asked if he had the right temperament to be on the U.S. Supreme Court.