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In a memorable comic turn on Saturday night, President Trump performed an impression of himself if he had been a conventional, strait-laced head of state; he hurled an obscenity at Chuck Todd, the host of “Meet the Press”; and he boasted that he knew what Oprah Winfrey’s weakness was. But enough about the president’s rally in western Pennsylvania.

Forced to compete with this kind of reality — and minus the services of its resident Trump impersonator, Alec Baldwin — “Saturday Night Live” took some unusual cultural detours to arrive at its topical satire this weekend, in an episode hosted by Sterling K. Brown and featuring the musical guest James Bay.

The show’s opening sketch seemed to promise a parody of the season finale of “The Bachelor,” the ABC reality series, from earlier this week, in which Arie Luyendyk Jr. first chose Becca Kufrin as his bride-to-be, then broke up with her and proposed to another contestant, Lauren Burnham. (As a consolation prize of sorts, Ms. Kufrin was named the star of “The Bachelorette” for a new season later this spring.)