A certain amount of tension always precedes a “Saturday Night Live” season premiere, but this weekend’s curtain raiser, kicking off its 45th year, seemed tenser than usual.

Beyond the typical curiosity about how the show would shake off the cobwebs of its annual summer hiatus and whether new cast members would gel with the veterans, “S.N.L.” had two big questions to answer: How would it tackle a politically tumultuous week in which Speaker Nancy Pelosi announced that the House would begin a formal impeachment inquiry against President Trump? And how — if at all — would it deal with the controversy surrounding Shane Gillis, who was hired as a featured performer and dropped before the season started, after videos surfaced in which he used racial slurs and other bigoted remarks?

The first question was addressed right away in the show’s cold open. Despite his frequent grousing to the contrary, Alec Baldwin was back in his recurring role as Trump, placing an anxious phone call to his personal lawyer, Rudolph W. Giuliani (played by Kate McKinnon). “Nobody’s going to find out about our illegal side dealings with the Ukraine,” McKinnon assured him. “Or how we tried to cover up those side dealings. Or how we planned to cover up the cover up.”