[ot-caption title=”Republican Presidential Candidate Donald Trump hosts Saturday Night Live. (via Mike Licht/Flickr)”]

On November 7^th, 2015, Republican 2016 Presidential Candidate Donald Trump hosted NBC’s Saturday Night Live. Despite much anticipation for the program, many viewers wondered why Trump devoted his time to take part in the show. They claimed that his participation does not add to the comedy of the show, but that Trump was on the show to promote his campaign. Nate Scott, editor of USA Today’s For The Win, said, “So what could have been a bizarro and hilarious roast of a man turned into something that felt like an hour-long campaign commercial.” Nonetheless, the program still received an astounding 9.3 million views, the most the show has had in almost two years.

SNL started off with Trump’s presentation of a monologue as he tried to prove that he was not the bad person many painted him out to be by saying, “People think I’m controversial, but the truth is I’m a nice guy. I don’t hold grudges against anybody.”  Moments later, Seinfeld co-creater and Curb Your Enthusiasm star, Larry David yelled from the audience, “You’re a racist,” saying that he was paid to do so, mimicking the original offer from activists angry about Trump’s alleged racial comments. This offer came from a political action committee known as Deport Racism, claiming they wanted, “to turn Trump’s appearance on the show into a media story that addresses his racist comments against Latinos.” They would pay $5,000 to anyone who interrupted Trump during his appearance.

Other highlights consisted of the “Weekend Update” segment, Donald Trump’s daughter Ivanka Trump’s appearance, Trump dancing to Drake’s new hit song, “Hotline Bling,” and the Democratic Candidates Forum led by Rachel Maddow (played by SNL’s Cecily Strong).   As a part of the Democratic Candidates Forum skit, the actors on SNL  impersonated the Democratic candidates, including Bernie Sanders. “Of course I hate you, I hate everyone! The only people I like are my seven adorable grandchildren. The youngest one is so cute! He just turned 40,” said Larry David while playing the role of Bernie Sanders.

Because of Trump’s comments regarding Latinos during his campaign, New York Daily News’ Rich Shapiro said, “A coalition of advocacy groups had called on the network to dump Trump because of his incendiary remarks towards undocumented immigrants.” That being said, Dana Milbank of the Washington Post says the SNL performance, “didn’t do Donald Trump any harm.” Though it may not have been a great night for SNL, Trump seemed to be, for the most part, unscathed by his performance. Michelle Cottle of the National Journal says that, “he was not hilarious but needed to get out there and show that he could take a joke.”

According to NBC’s most recent polling, after the most recent SNL show, Donald Trump trails behind pediatric neurosurgeon Ben Carson in the race for the GOP Presidential Candidacy, but is still finishing near or at the top of national and state level polls.

Live from Fort Lauderdale, Florida, it’s Type One Tuesday!

Sources: For the Win, CNN, Fortune, New York Daily News, Washington Post, National Journal, MSNBC, Real Clear Politics, Photo Source: Mike Licht