Saturday Night Live: Watch Alec Baldwin and Kate McKinnon battle as Donald Trump and Hillary Clinton

A cold open poking fun at the first presidential debate began the live-sketch show's 42nd season in style

Saturday Night Live tested out a new Donald Trump on their season premiere, bringing on Alec Baldwin to take on the infamous Republican candidate.

Having previously attracted controversy for inviting Trump himself to host the show in November of last year, the pressure was now on for Saturday Night Live to deliver in parodying the historically momentous first presidential debate between Trump and Hillary Clinton; which makes it no surprise they'd bring on such an A-list name to replace previous regular Trump impersonator Taran Killam.

Introduced by Michael Che's Lester Holt, Baldwin's Trump came on as "the man to blame for the bottom half of all his kids' faces"; before preceding into a cavalcade of pointing, podium-grabbing, and bizarre pronunciations of the word "China". The sketch also referenced Trump's near-constant interruption of Clinton, with him intermittently yelling "wrong!", "wronger", and "shut up!".

"I have the best judgment and the best temperament," he later said. "She’s the one with the bad temperament. She’s always screaming. She’s constantly lying. Her hair is weird and her face is completely orange. Except around the eyes where it’s white. Once she stops talking her mouth looks like a tiny little butthole."

Meanwhile, Kate McKinnon returned as Hillary Clinton once more; poking fun at accusations she was "over-prepared" for the debate, and asking, "can America vote right now?"

“Listen, America. I get it. You hate me,” her Clinton concluded. "You hate my voice, and you hate my face. Well, here’s a tip: If you never want to see my face again, elect me president, and I swear to God I will lock myself in the Oval Office and not come out for four years. But if you don’t elect me, I will continue to run for president until the day I die."

The episode marked Saturday Night Live's 42nd season premiere, with Margot Robbie on as host.