‘SNL’ Videos: Lin-Manuel Miranda’s Best Skits

SNL Lin-Manuel Miranda and Twenty One Pilots
Josh Dun and Tyler Joseph of musical guest Twenty One Pilots, host Lin-Manuel Miranda, and Aidy Bryant on ‘SNL’ (Photo by Rosalind O’Connor / NBC)

Hamilton‘s Lin-Manuel Miranda made his Saturday Night Live hosting debut with the October 8, 2016 episode, kicking off his rookie appearance with a song that declared he wasn’t going to throw away this opportunity. Miranda did a terrific job as host and while not every skit worked (‘Campfire’ was more annoying than funny), Miranda appeared to have been game for pretty much anything. The monologue was Miranda’s best work of the night, in particular the moment when he passed by Donald Trump’s photo and sang a bit of “The Reynolds Pamphlet” lyrics from Hamilton, “Never gonna be president now.” Twitter went absolutely crazy after Miranda paused in front of Trump and delivered those lyrics.

The Stranger Things season two skit featuring Miranda was a close second in popularity to the opening monologue. Miranda took on the character, Dustin, played in the Netflix series by Gaten Matarazzo. The skit introduced Lucas’ parents (played by Leslie Jones and Kenan Thompson) who were mysteriously absent from season one. Other standout skits included Miranda playing a substitute teacher who thinks connecting with his students via rap music will make him cool, and Miranda as a Wells Fargo stagecoach driver who wants to open multiple bank accounts for a small town’s citizens in a take-off of The Music Man.