In a milestone celebration marking its actual 50th anniversary, “Saturday Night Live” rolled out the red carpet for an unforgettable episode, highlighted by the return of beloved alumni Amy Poehler and Tina Fey. Poehler, serving as the week’s host, teamed up with Fey, who made a surprise appearance, to deliver a scathing opening sketch.
Poehler channeled Attorney General Pam Bondi in a hilarious send-up of her Senate Judiciary Committee testimony. Kicking off her remarks with a defiant, “What’s up, nerds? Furious to be here,” Poehler’s Bondi refused to affirm the truth of her testimony, quipping that she spelled “Bondi” “with an ‘I’ ’cause I ain’t gonna answer any questions.” She further joked about the Justice Department’s operations “moving like Kash Patel’s eyeballs, very quickly in multiple directions at once.”
The sketch intensified as Poehler’s Bondi deftly roasted various senators, including a deadpan Mikey Day as Senator Richard Blumenthal, eliciting the line, “Even people in Connecticut go ‘damn, that guy’s white as hell.'”
When questioned about the necessity of U.S. troops protecting Immigration and Customs Enforcement facilities, Poehler called upon homeland security secretary Kristi Noem, portrayed by a gun-toting Tina Fey who dramatically burst into the hearing. “Hold my gun,” Fey’s Noem declared, casually tossing her large automatic weapon off-camera. She then clarified her name, spelling “Kristi” “with an ‘I’ ’cause that’s how I thought it was spelled,” and boasted about being “the rarest type of person in Washington, D.C., — a brunette that Donald Trump listens to.”
Fey continued her comedic assault, telling Day that the Democrats’ eagerness to end the government shutdown made her “laugh more than the end of ‘Old Yeller.'” When a horrified Day asked, “When the dog gets shot?”, Fey’s character retorted, “Dogs don’t just get shot. Heroes shoot them.” Her impromptu recruitment ad for I.C.E. (“Do you like to use zip ties because people in your life don’t trust you with keys?”) left the committee, including Jeremy Culhane as Senator Sheldon Whitehouse, utterly unconvinced. “No. Not even a little bit,” Whitehouse replied, prompting Poehler to declare, “Then our work here is done.”
Poehler’s Nostalgic Monologue
In her first hosting gig since co-hosting with Tina Fey in 2015, Amy Poehler opened up with a nostalgic monologue reflecting on her “S.N.L.” years. She humorously revealed that she found her “first love” on the show: “Being famous,” and added, “I’m still on some of the amazing medications they put me on, so I will be forever grateful.” Poehler recalled her childhood dream of becoming an actress, a dream she joked would last “at least until they invent an A.I. actress who’s funnier and willing to do full frontal.” She concluded with a witty observation about turning 50: “you start to not care about what people think,” a sentiment she playfully extended to “S.N.L.” itself, suggesting, “She’s obviously stopped caring.”
Unforgettable Commercial Parodies
The night’s parodies were equally sharp. Aubrey Plaza, Poehler’s former co-star from “Parks and Recreation,” made a cameo in a fake trailer for a new season of the steamy Netflix drama “The Hunting Wives.” The spoof featured a world where seduction is rampant, until Plaza’s character reveals a girlfriend, leading to the other wives pulling guns on her. Fans of classic “S.N.L.” product parodies were also treated to an ersatz commercial for “Non-Non-Alcoholic Beer,” hilariously billed as “the first non-alcoholic beverage that’s over 96 percent alcohol.” Cheers to that!
Weekend Update Delivers Topical Laughs
At the iconic Weekend Update desk, anchors Colin Jost and Michael Che tackled the delicate topic of the Gaza cease-fire deal with their signature blend of wit and satire.
Jost kicked off with:
It is nice to start Update with some good news, for once. There is peace in the Middle East. The only downside is, there’s war in Chicago. Only Trump could “Freaky Friday” Chicago and Gaza. And I know Trump is upset that he didn’t win the Nobel Peace Prize. But the last guy to send heavily armed men into an American city was Bane from Batman. Bane, who was also snubbed for the Peace Prize. And Trump deserves credit, I have to say, for brokering the cease-fire in Gaza. But I’m slightly skeptical since Biden also negotiated a cease-fire in Gaza nine months ago. Remember that? No? Well, neither does Biden. The actual Nobel Peace Prize was awarded this week to Venezuela opposition leader María Corina Machado. Or as Fox News reported it, “Trump Robbed By Deranged Hispanic.”
Che followed with his sharp observations:
Many leaders in the Middle East are crediting President Trump with brokering the Israel-Hamas cease-fire. But it makes perfect sense to me. Because sometimes crazy people only listen to other crazy people. Like when you see a guy jacking it on the subway, you don’t just ask him to stop. No, you’ve got to take off your pants, too, and now we can negotiate.
Star-Studded Weekend Update Guests
Even after earlier anniversary festivities, “S.N.L.” still managed to surprise with additional celebrity appearances. Pop sensation Charli XCX joined Role Model on stage for his performance of “Sally, When the Wine Runs Out.” The biggest treat for fans, however, was the reunion of former Weekend Update anchors Amy Poehler, Tina Fey, and Seth Meyers (currently hosting NBC’s “Late Night”). They joined current anchors Jost and Che for a rapid-fire “joke off,” trading punchlines about a woman in Tennessee giving birth to a 13-pound baby. Highlights included:
- POEHLER: The baby “was so big, he slapped the doctor on his ass.”
- FEY: “and the new baby’s name is ‘Ahhhhhhhhh!’”
- MEYERS: “Damn, did she give birth to it or did it drive out?”
- CHE: “The second the baby was out, the woman zipped around the room like a deflated balloon.”
- JOST: “The baby’s nickname is Magician because it basically sawed his mother in half.”