Whether you love him or can’t stand him, Domingo, Marcello Hernández’s unforgettable Casanova on “Saturday Night Live,” has officially solidified his place in the show’s legacy. This past weekend, he proudly headlined the opening sketch, proving he’s here to stay, even amidst any potential controversy.
Breaking from its recent tradition of political cold opens, this week’s “S.N.L.” — brilliantly hosted by musical guest Sabrina Carpenter — kicked off with another hilarious installment of the Domingo saga. The sketch, a fan-favorite, continued to follow the smooth-talking Lothario as he relentlessly pursued Kelsey (Chloe Fineman), much to the eternal annoyance of her long-suffering husband, Matt (Andrew Dismukes).
For those unfamiliar with Domingo’s scandalous history, here’s a quick refresher: The character first appeared in a memorable 2024 sketch. During a wedding reception, a group of bridesmaids, including pop sensation Ariana Grande, performed an off-key ‘Espresso’ parody, revealing a secret rendezvous between Domingo and the bride, Kelsey. The segment immediately went viral, spawning follow-up sketches where Domingo crashed the couple’s babymoon and, more recently, even a vow-renewal ceremony for Kelsey’s parents (played by the legendary Molly Shannon and Martin Short) during the “S.N.L.” 50th-anniversary special.
This time, Sabrina Carpenter, who was part of Domingo’s previous antics, joined Hernández, Ashley Padilla, Veronika Slowikowska, and Sarah Sherman. They belted out parodies of popular songs like Taylor Swift’s “The Fate of Ophelia,” Lady Gaga’s “Abracadabra,” and Alex Warren’s “Ordinary,” each lyric hinting at yet another romantic entanglement with Domingo.
A visibly frustrated Dismukes exasperatedly told Fineman at the sketch’s close, “Seriously, this is strike six!”
“Hey, babe,” she cooed, already swaying provocatively with Hernández, “it totally won’t happen again.” Yet, as “S.N.L.” history has shown us, Domingo’s antics are almost certainly bound to continue.
The Week’s Unexpected Hero: Trump
Don’t let the unusual premise fool you; this sketch was a surprisingly brilliant parody of a video podcast where adolescent boys review their favorite and least favorite foods with plenty of slang. Carpenter, Fineman, Slowikowska, and Jane Wickline were eerily convincing as sincere young goofballs, debating if Twizzlers were ‘washed’ or ‘fire,’ and which vegetables are ‘G.O.A.T.-ed.’ As Carpenter’s character wisely observed, “Some vegetables are fire and some vegetables low-key be a fruit.”
But the biggest shock? The podcast’s celebrity guest was none other than President Trump, brought to life by resident impressionist James Austin Johnson. Despite the bizarre setting, Johnson’s Trump somehow fit perfectly into the conversation.
Unable to recall a single favorite vegetable, Johnson’s Trump instead gave a glowing endorsement to Little Debbie, proclaiming, “We like Little Debbie. She does tremendous work. It’s awful what happened to her.” He specifically praised the brand’s iconic Christmas Tree cake. “You know, it used to be seasonal,” he remarked. “But I very smartly made a call and now we get it year-round.”
“Dang, that’s so fire, sir,” an awestruck Fineman exclaimed.
“It is,” Johnson confidently replied. “It’s very fire. It’s very fire.”
This Week’s Melodious Mirth
Sadly, Bowen Yang couldn’t make it to this week’s live broadcast; he was in Los Angeles, celebrated as an honoree at the Academy Museum Gala. This meant he couldn’t reprise his popular role as George Santos, the disgraced former congressman whose fraud sentence had just been commuted by President Trump on Friday. However, Yang still managed to appear alongside Carpenter in a prerecorded music video, depicting teenage students finding surprisingly intimate (yet fully clothed and hilariously inappropriate) ways to get close at a school dance.
Carpenter also teamed up with Slowikowska for a bizarrely delightful sketch where they portrayed a singing washing machine and clothes dryer, serenading the audience with jingles in various musical genres. (It was late when we watched, but we’re fairly certain that’s exactly what transpired!)
Weekend Update’s Top Zingers
At the Weekend Update desk, anchors Colin Jost and Michael Che delivered their signature wit, tackling topics ranging from President Trump’s commutation of George Santos’s sentence to the controversy surrounding a leaked group chat among young Republican officials filled with racist and homophobic comments.
Jost kicked things off:
“Yesterday, President Trump finally released what everyone has been asking him to release: George Santos. The former Republican congressman, who had pleaded guilty to fraud and something called aggravated identity theft — which I think is when you push someone into a closet and switch clothes with them — is now free and will face zero consequences. But Santos says he’s a changed man, and he even released a photo of his new prison body.” [The screen then displayed an image of Santos’s head comically Photoshopped onto a highly muscular physique.]
Che followed up with:
“Volodymyr Zelensky has stated that if President Trump provides Ukraine with Tomahawk missiles, he will nominate Trump for a Nobel Peace Prize. You know, the prize they give you for selling missiles. There was outrage this week over a leaked group chat among Republican leaders, which included praise for Hitler and referred to Black Americans as ‘watermelon people.’ The chat, ironically, was named ‘Jost Family.’”
Jost then added:
“While traveling on Air Force One to the Middle East to celebrate the cease-fire, President Trump told reporters, ‘I don’t think there’s anything that’s going to get me into heaven.’ Then he paused for 10 full minutes, clearly expecting someone to interject, ‘That’s not true.’ But of course, Trump can’t go to heaven; he’s far too busy down here, running hell.”
Che concluded with:
“President Trump announced that another boat from Venezuela, which he claimed was smuggling drugs, was blown out of the water without warning. You might not think that’s a big deal right now, but trust me, one day soon you’ll look in the mirror and suddenly realize you’re all out of cocaine.”
The Week’s Standout Weekend Update Segment
Although it wasn’t particularly topical this week, Marcello Hernández truly owned the episode, deserving extra recognition for the latest appearance of his recurring character, ‘Movie Guy.’ This endearing theater usher diligently reviews new films despite having never actually seen any of them. While his puns are predictable from a mile away, there’s a timeless charm in his unwavering persistence and innocent naïveté. In his delightfully broken English, he shared his appreciation for modern horror movies with self-explanatory titles: “Like ‘Scream,’ everybody scream. ‘Smile,’ everybody smile. And ‘Saw,’ everybody saw. Except me. I did not see ‘Saw.’”