Former basketball star Charles Barkley comes back (after a 17-year gap) to host the first new episode of 2010; Alicia Keys (who last appeared on the first episode of season 27 with host Reese Witherspoon) comes back to perform "Try Sleeping with a Broken Heart" and "Empire State of Mind."
Sketches include "The Situation Room," "Thomas Peepers Insurance," "Reel Quotes," "MacGruber" (three-part sketch), "Shana at the Ski Retreat," "Inside the NBA," "Weekend Update" with James Carville, Nicolas Cage, and Governor David Paterson, "The Haney Project," "Digital Short: Alicia Keys' Booty Call," "Scared Straight," and "Barkley's Bank."
Casts:
Michael Che, Mikey Day, Kenan Thompson, Heidi Gardner, Ego Nwodim, Chloe Fineman, Bowen Yang, Andrew Dismukes, Punkie Johnson, James Austin Johnson, Sarah Sherman, Marcello Hernandez, Molly Kearney, Michael Longfellow, Devon Walker, Chloe Troast, Ben Marshall, John Higgins, Martin Herlihy