Julia Louis-Dreyfus Reprises Her ‘Seinfeld’ Role On ‘Saturday Night Live’
Julia Louis-Dreyfus began her career back in 1982 as a cast member on Saturday Night Live, before making her big break into the world of sitcoms as Elaine in Seinfeld. Last night’s episode of Saturday Night Live saw Dreyfus reprise her role as Elaine Benes, making for arguably the most hilarious skit of the season so far. Viewers of Saturday Night Live went absolutely wild to see Veep star Julia Louis-Dreyfus reprising one of her most well-known roles from Seinfeld over 25 years ago.
According to Hollywood Life, the April 16 episode of Saturday Night Live was hosted by Julia Louis-Dreyfus, with music from Nick Jonas. Dreyfus made her appearance as Elaine Benes before the Saturday Night Live audience during a skit of the Democratic debate. The debate saw Kate McKinnon in her role as Hillary Clinton, whilst Larry David once again reprised his role as Bernie Sanders, the two remaining Democratic candidates. Interestingly, viewers of Seinfeld will be more than aware that Larry David was one of the show’s co-producers, responsible for casting Julia Louis-Dreyfus in her role.
Louis-Dreyfus’ character made an appearance in the Saturday Night Live skit as a member of the debate audience. Her character, Elaine, challenged Bernie Sanders’ positions on a number of issues and questioned how he would manage to enact many of his policies.
Elaine Benes has some serious questions for Senator Sanders. #SNL @OfficialJLDhttps://t.co/gmNBRsih0b
— Saturday Night Live – SNL (@nbcsnl) April 17, 2016
According to the New York Daily News, the Saturday Night Live version of the Democratic debate then proceeded into the usual slapstick slinging match between Hillary Clinton, played by Kate McKinnon, and Bernie Sanders, played by Larry David. In fact, the entire Saturday Night Live scene transcended into a brawl, with the two candidates fighting it out live on the stage. The ongoing competition for the Democratic nomination between Hillary Clinton and Bernie Sanders has been something of a running gag in this series of Saturday Night Live.
This was the third time Julia Louis-Dreyfus has hosted Saturday Night Live, but was arguably her most political appearance. Dreyfus used her opening monologue to speak about the ongoing election cycle, comparing it to Veep, the show which she is currently the lead star. She went on to express her views around the current field of candidates, telling audience members “when we started doing our show the idea of a presidential candidate being a cursing, narcissistic buffoon was a joke.” Whilst not mentioning the candidate by name, many of Julia Louis-Dreyfus’ comments were clearly aimed at the current Republican frontrunner, Donald Trump.
Louis-Dreyfus made her Saturday Night Live appearance ahead of the return of HBO’s political comedy, Veep, next week. Returning on April 24, Season 5 of Veep will see Julia Louis-Dreyfus reprise her role as incompetent president, Selina Meyer. Veep Season 4 closed on a hung election, with Meyer’s career left hanging in uncertainty. The fifth season of the show will pick up following the events of the last, with viewers finally getting to learn the fate of Louis-Dreyfus’ masterful character. Selina Meyer is, of course, well known as an incredibly ambitious politician, and one that Julia Louis-Dreyfus has said that she couldn’t see herself voting for.
Julia Louis-Dreyfus will again return to television screens when Veep returns for its fifth season on April 24. Meanwhile, Saturday Night Live will continue to poke fun at the presidential election on May 7 when Brie Larson hosts. By then, the real political landscape around the presidential election is sure to have shifted greatly.
[Image via NBC]
