SNL Goes In On Jill Stein

Well, Green Party presidential nominee Jill Stein finally got a taste of some of that primetime exposure that the third-party candidates didn't get during the first presidential debate. She probably hoped it would be a little more positive than what Saturday Night Live gave her in its 42nd season premiere, however ― SNL's Bernie Sanders criticized Stein in a way the real Vermont senator can't, as played by the inimitable Larry David.

The barbs came during a political Family Feud sketch, with teams of surrogates, staffers and admirers for both the Clinton and Trump campaigns facing off. Trump's team consisted of campaign manager Kellyanne Conway, New Jersey governor Chris Christie, Ivanka (with cameos by Eric and Donald Jr.), and Russian president Vladimir Putin, while Clinton's included Bill, Sarah Silverman, Lin Manuel-Miranda, and her former primary rival.

David's blunt-talking Bernie wasn't all that diplomatic about his view of Clinton, describing her as being like "prune juice" ("if you don't take her now, you're going to be clogged with crap for a very long time"), but his dig at Stein was a little more brutal. When asked for a reason people are late, his answer took dead aim at the Green Party nominee.

Maybe you're late because people like Jill Stein call you in the middle of the night asking you for advice. That woman drives me nuts. For someone who cares about the environment, she sure doesn't mind asking people to throw their votes away, huh?

As you can see above, he wasn't the only person "bothered by Jill Stein."

The joke comes hot on the heels of a Change.org petition demanding that SNL executive producer Lorne Michaels book Stein to host the show (or at least to make an appearance), decrying the "relative media blackout" her candidacy's been met with. In particular, the petition argues that Stein's "humor, intelligence and wit" would make her a natural fit to appear on the decades-old comedy program, and would "allow Americans to get to know her better through her lighter side." It's not exactly blowing the doors off, however ― as of the time of this writing, it only has 770 signatures.

Suffice to say, this probably isn't the kind of shout-out Stein was hoping for. There really aren't words you can say to a third-party candidate that are more inflammatory than the "throw your vote away" line, and that's what SNL served up in its Season 42 opener.

Image: Jill Stein/Twitter