SNL: Taran Killam, Miley Cyrus (CREDIT: YouTube Screenshot)

This review was originally posted on Starpulse in October 2015.

We are currently living in the Postmodern Miley Cyrus Age. A couple years ago we were in the Modern Era, with the public coming to grips over her burgeoning sexuality and appetite for controversy. Currently, her rebellion is accepted as a given, with her self-awareness tacitly acknowledged by most camps. Her rebellious streak remains, so now she is mostly rebelling against her own sensibilities. In this fashion she hosts the Season 41 premiere of “Saturday Night Live,” her third time. The new year is starting off relatively quietly, at one of its least transitional moments of the past few years. Miley proves to be something of a perfect fit, as her restlessness is the yin to the yang of the show’s peacefulness.

A Message from Donald and Melania Trump – A Donald Trump impression debuting in October 2015 is following in the wake of a whole summer’s worth of Trump-targeting comedy, as well as a generation’s worth of Trump-edy. So it goes without saying that Taran Killam’s impression has a lot to live up to. Unfortunately, in his inaugural appearance, he serves as little more than a mouthpiece for a predictable, though thorough, takedown. The zings about how he tries to pass himself off as loving women, how he is hardly a social Republican, and how his economic plan makes no sense are all there, and you’ve seen them all before if you’ve been paying attention. C

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