Saturday Night Live jumped off its 40th season last night in blaze of boundary pushing glory, inviting Ariana Grande and subversive anti-pop star The Weeknd to perform their collaborative single "Love Me Harder." The big four-oh of NBC's flagship sketch comedy program did not merely play host to its first black Weekend Update correspondent in Michael Che's debut, it also found hip-hop taking a more prominent stance in the late-night show's programming with sketches that sourced Nicki Minaj's "Anaconda" as an apt pick-up line aggregator and revealed Chris Pratt to be quite the dynamic host.
Grande commenced her pop-centric late-night romp solo with Weeknd's three-piece in tow, but was joined by the band's leader mid-way through the performance to juggle hit-calling duties with his patently trill croon. All in all, SNL's comeback went off without a hitch and found the show breaching it's own limits in pro form, even introducing it's youngest featured player since Anthony Michael Hall in the Samberg -Seinfeld- Chappelle hybrid that is Pete Davidson. You can watch the entirety of the show's 40th season starter on Hulu, but tune-in down below to catch Grande and The Weeknd's duet of "Love Me Harder."
