“Saturday Night Live” has never shied away from putting politics front and center, and there’s never a better time for that than presidential election season.

Actually, 2016 might be better than ever for the long-running NBC sketch show, given the degree to which politics and entertainment have become intertwined.

Margot Robbie is hosting and alternative R&B crooner The Weeknd is the musical guest.

You know longtime “SNL” producer Lorne Michaels is hopeful for huge — or as “SNL’s” version of Donald Trump would say, “yuuuge” — ratings for the fall episodes leading up to Election Day on Nov. 8.

“SNL’s” 42nd season premieres Saturday, with Margot Robbie (“Suicide Squad”) hosting and alternative R&B crooner The Weeknd as the musical guest.

While both popular entertainers will help draw viewers, there’s no question most people will tune in for Darrell Hammond’s Trump and Kate McKinnon’s Hillary Clinton. And no one will be surprised by likely appearances from crowd-pleasers such as Tina Fey (as Sarah Palin), Jason Sudeikis (Joe Biden), or Amy Poehler (as “old-school” Hillary).

As for Mike Pence and Tim Kaine — well, if “SNL” can find a way to make either vice presidential candidate particularly interesting, that will be an impressive accomplishment in itself. The two men might be perfectly competent politicians, but neither provides much material for caricature — which is a big part of why they were selected as running mates.

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Hammond, the longest-serving member of the show’s repertory cast (1995-2009), is returning as the show’s announcer for the third straight season. That’s particularly handy right now for “SNL,” which calls on Hammond regularly for his wacky Trump and Bill Clinton impersonations.

Of course, one thing political junkies of all stripes watch closely every election year is how evenhanded “SNL” is with its political parodies. It’s more often been criticized for its portrayal of Republican candidates than Democratic ones, although both sides get their dander up when “SNL” satirizes their candidate too harshly.

Some critics have suggested “SNL” can even influence the elections themselves, a charge with which Michaels has mostly — but not entirely — disagreed.

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Michaels has said Will Ferrell’s “backhandedly affectionate” take on George W. Bush might have helped Bush edge out Al Gore in the 2000 election. But he also told The New York Times’ Maureen Dowd in February, “I don’t go along with the idea that the American people can’t make up their own minds and that if you expose them to these things, they will just be swept along.”

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In 2008, Michaels responded to critics who said the show seemed to be favoring Hillary Clinton over Obama as they fought over the Democratic Party nomination.

“I’m in show business and I never, ever forget that,” he told The Times. “I’m sensitive to the suggestion that we’re in the service of Hillary Clinton this year. That obviously is not the case. We don’t lay down for anybody.”

It’s not as if “SNL’s” take on a candidate necessarily takes hold with the voting public at large. One of the best remembered “SNL” lines from 1988 came from a sketch in which Democratic candidate Michael Dukakis (Jon Lovitz) debated George H.W. Bush (Dana Carvey).

After Carvey’s Bush summed up his argument as, “On track, stay the course, thousand points of light,” Lovitz’s Dukakis responded: “I can’t believe I’m losing to this guy.” One month later, the real Dukakis lost big, with the senior Bush winning the electoral college in a 426-111 landslide.

Republican Gerald Ford was president when “SNL” went on the air in October 1975 (under its original title, “NBC’s Saturday Night”). Since then, Americans have elected three Republican presidents (Ronald Reagan and both Bushes) and three Democratic presidents (Jimmy Carter, Bill Clinton, and Barack Obama).

That’s not a perfect way of scoring the four-plus decades of “SNL’s” tenure, but it indicates at least some degree of fairness. If “SNL” truly has the power to influence presidential elections one way or the other, at least it hasn’t tipped the scales entirely in either direction. Most likely, people just enjoy it as entertainment and let their personal beliefs take over in the voting booth.

Related: Trump Does It All on ‘SNL’

But it is interesting when “SNL’s” propensity for political parody plays a role in real-world discussions. For example: In September 2014, Sen. Ted Cruz argued that a Democratic-led proposal to amend the Constitution (in an attempt to overturn the Supreme Court’s Citizens United decision) could lead to “SNL’s” political satire becoming a criminal offense.

Cruz claimed that the amendment would make it illegal for a corporation — which NBC is — to engage in political speech. He said, “Lorne Michaels could be put in jail under this amendment for making fun of any politician.” The notion might have sounded wacky on its face, but after consulting several legal scholars, PolitiFact found Cruz’s argument had some merit.

And of course, Al Franken, the junior U.S. senator from Minnesota, was well known from 1975-80 and 1985-95 as an “SNL” performer and writer. “Saturday Night Live” might claim to lampoon all sides of the political spectrum equally — but it’s not entirely surprising that the most successful politician to emerge from its ranks is as liberal as they come.