The guest stars took the stage to help 'SNL' lampoon the democrats' LGBTQ town hall debate.
Saturday Night Live brought a lot of surprise star power to the stage for their cold open this weekend, in which they poked fun at the recent LGBTQ town hall for the democratic candidates running for the 2020 nomination.
Anderson Cooper (played by Alex Moffat) hosted the event, but said that since this was likely only going to happen once, they were going to go all-out and got Billy Porter to introduce the candidates. But, like, the real Billy Porter, and he was absolutely flawless as he introduced Corey Booker (Chriss Redd).
"My girlfriend was in Rent, so I get it," Redd's Booker said, referring to his relationship with Rosario Dawson, as he took the stage. After being put in the hot seat about a problematic op-ed he wrote years ago, Booker less-than-gracefully just walked off.
Pete Buttigieg (Colin Jost) took the stage next. He waved to the crowd and joked, "There's no wrong way to be gay, unless you're Ellen this week," referring to Ellen DeGeneres' recent controversial hangout with former president George W. Bush.
Later in the sketch, SNL corrected a complaint they received over an earlier episode in which Julian Castro was left out of a debate sketch, making up for it in a real flashy way.
"Now, from the house of urban deliciousness, it's Julian Castro!" Porter exclaimed as Lin-Manuel Miranda walked out perfectly embodying Castro.
"I'm sorry I'm not gay, In the future, I'll try to do better. But at least I'm Latino, so that's something!" Miranda told the crowd, before fielding a few questions and eventually trying to shoe-horn in a Hamilton reference.
"There's one man who should have been president but never got the chance," Miranda's Castro said, before almost breaking into a song from Hamilton. An annoyed Cooper stopped him, uttering, "Really?"
"What? I was gonna Al Gore!" Castro explained. "I meant Al Gore."
The final surprise cameo came when Woody Harrelson -- who hosted the season premiere two weeks ago -- returned to reprise his role as Joe Biden. After rambling somewhat incoherently about his past experiences, Biden smiled and waved to his fans.
"Thanks to everyone for playing, but we all know I'm your guy," Biden said. He then turned to Cooper and asked, "You ever been kissed by a Vice President before?" before planting a kiss on Cooper's mouth.
It was a surprisingly strong start to Saturday's new episode, whch was hosted by Stranger Things star David Harbour and featured musical guest Camila Cabello.
SNL airs live coast-to-coast on Saturdays at 11:30 p.m. ET, 8:30 p.m. PT on NBC.
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