The new season of “Saturday Night Live” kicked off this weekend, and the “Weekend Update” guys paid tribute to that segment’s best anchor ever, NORM MACDONALD.

COLIN JOST called him, quote, “the reason that I ever wanted to do ‘Weekend Update’.  Then he and MICHAEL CHE ended the segment with a clip of some of Norm’s classic jokes.  (Lucky stabbin’ hat, anyone?  Here’s the clip.)

So the show said goodbye to one of its legendary stars, but may have said hello to another.  JAMES AUSTIN JOHNSON made his “SNL” debut leading the cold open as PRESIDENT BIDEN, and he was great.