SNL's 'Black Jeopardy' Shows How We Can All Make It Through Election 2016

On Oct. 22, Saturday Night Live aired what the Washington Post is calling the show’s “best political sketch this year” — the latest installment of its recurring sketch, “Black Jeopardy.”

In “Black Jeopardy,” two African-American contestants play a game of "Jeopardy!" with questions geared toward black culture. The third contestant is usually a white person who’s painfully out of touch with the game's subject matter. In the latest installment, two African-American contestants compete against a Trump supporter — easily the most out-of-touch white person they have faced yet.

Or so they think. Doug, played by Tom Hanks, turns out to answer many of the questions extremely well. When the host, played by Kenan Thompson, reads a clue from the category “They Out Here Saying” (“They out here saying, 'The new iPhone wants your thumbprint for your protection'”), Hanks responds, “What is ‘I don’t know, that’s how they get you.’”

“Yes!” says Thompson, surprised. “Yes!”

Thus begins Doug’s great run on Black Jeopardy, a plot twist that highlights some similarities between the seemingly most opposed voters of the election — black women and a white, conservative male — and makes SNL’s sketch a standout.

Lately, SNL has been garnering coverage for Kate McKinnon’s portrayal of Hillary Clinton and Alec Baldwin’s portrayal of Donald Trump. But SNL’s latest sketch highlights the work of the show’s lesser-known stars and creators (“Weekend Update” co-anchor Michael Che and SNL co-head writer Bryan Tucker wrote the skit, and Kenan Thompson, Sasheer Zamata, and Leslie Jones acted alongside Tom Hanks) and shows that SNL is firing on all cylinders as the nation draws closer to Election Day.

Such strong performances from its cast and crew may be what SNL needs for ratings, but it's also what the nation needs: entertainment that's simultaneously a respite from the rhetoric of the election, and a unique take on the grueling national match-up that has dominated our television screens. This latest installment of "Black Jeopardy" will go down in SNL history as fitting both of those criteria.