Saturday Night Live castmembers kicked off season 49’s second episode with a satirical take on Republicans’ current chaos in the U.S. House of Representatives.
The cold open saw Mikey Day’s Rep. Jim Jordan distraught after his bid for House Speaker failed for a third time. After Kevin McCarthy was ousted as House Speaker last month, Republicans have been sinking deeper into turmoil amid their division on who should claim the spot. On Friday, Republicans abruptly decided to drop Jordan, an ally of Donald Trump, as their nominee.
“How did I lose? This is chaos,” Day’s Jordan says. “Some of us are here to actually serve the American people. All I want to do is get Congress back to work so I can shut it down again.”
Bowen Yang’s Rep. George Santos, who has been at the center of controversy amid criminal charges and allegations that he’d fabricated parts of his résumé, proceeds to come in to try and “cheer” up Day’s Jordan.
After walking in while holding a baby that “no one seems to know” why he has, Yang’s Santos says, “I just wanted to say how sorry I am, but I want you to know I voted for you and get this, so did Shoshanna Loggins.”
Day’s Jordan asks, “Who’s that?” to which Yang’s Santos responds, “Also, me.”
Before Yang’s embattled Santos leaves, he says he has to answer a phone call from who he claims is Tupac Shakur, telling the late rapper, “Girl, I know, Jada [Pinkett Smith] is crazy.” In her new memoir, Worthy, Pinkett Smith talks about her close friendship with Shakur, who was shot and killed in 1996.
Day’s Jordan next answers a phone call from Chloe Fineman’s Rep. Lauren Boebert. “Look, things are going exactly as planned,” she says. “Just keep running for speaker, and even if you don’t win, great, the government shuts down, and we blow this whole thing up.”
Before hanging up, Fineman’s Boebert says, “I gotta go. I’m at a theater seeing Aladdin,” which mocked Boebert’s recent incident where she was escorted out of a Denver theater after being accused by venue officials of vaping, groping her date and “causing a disturbance” during a Beetlejuice: The Musical performance.
Lastly, James Austin Johnson’s Donald Trump arrives. Day’s Jordan says to him, “I’m so glad you’re here. You endorsed me, and then you just kind of disappeared.”
“Yeah. Well, that’s because I prefer the Jordans who win,” Johnson’s Trump says. “The great Michael Jordan or the even greater Jordan Sparks.”
He adds, “People are saying that I would make a great speaker. It’s true, but sadly I’ll be too busy campaigning, traveling from city to city, visiting their beautiful courtrooms, you know, great things for the courts, doing great things for the court.” Trump is currently facing four criminal cases in Washington D.C., New York, Florida and Georgia.
Day’s Jordan proceeds to question why he can’t seem to win the House speakership, saying, “This is all just so frustrating, sir. I did exactly what you would do: intimidation, threats. Why didn’t it work?”
Johnson’s Trump responds, “Because frankly, you’re not me. You’re no fun. I’m hilarious. I’m a creep. I’m a weirdo. What the hell is he doing here, you know? They don’t play creep live anymore, do they? You notice that? … Everybody else does it, but they don’t do it.”
He continues to tell Day’s Jordan, “You can’t give up. All right, you can’t give up because this is America. It’s the most beautiful country in the world, filled with some terrible people, some awful people, some of the worst people you’ve ever seen. But we love it. What a beautiful nation it is. What a wonderful nation. Not so much in terms of the people, the people are very bad and weird. We love our country. What an awful place it is.”
As Day’s Jordan goes on to kick off the rest of Saturday’s show, Johnson’s Trump stops him, saying, “Hold on, that’s not for losers,” adding, “Live from New York, it’s Saturday Night.”
Grammy-winner Bad Bunny made his hosting debut on the NBC sketch comedy show Saturday and served as the musical guest for the episode.
During his opening monologue, the Puerto Rican rapper and singer addressed critics who questioned his ability to host SNL since English isn’t his first language.
“People are wondering if I can’t host this show because English is not my first language,” Bad Bunny says. “I don’t know if they know, but I do whatever I want,” referring to his previous album YHLQMDLG. “I can host this show in English. I can order McDonald’s in English. I can have sex in English. But I prefer sex in Spanish because it’s just better.”
The musician proceeds to speak in Spanish as captions on the screen read, “Speaking in non-English,” which references the 2023 Grammys controversy where his Spanish lyrics and speech were not translated into closed captions, and instead the words “singing in non-English” were displayed on screens.
After noticing the captions on the screen during his monologue, Bad Bunny decides to recruit his friend and actor Pedro Pascal, who hosted SNL last season, to translate for him.
The “MONACO” singer later asks him for advice on his monologue, to which Pascal says, “I find it’s always charming to do a self-deprecating joke. … It’s like a joke you make about part of your body or your face that’s unflattering.”
Bad Bunny responds, “I don’t have any.”
