Just in time for the approaching apocalypse, Saturday Night Live is back. Well, sort of.
On Thursday night, NBC aired the first of three Weekend Update: Summer Edition specials in which co-anchors Colin Jost and Michael Che essentially delivered an extended version of their regular SNL segment two months before the real show is scheduled to come back.
And they had a lot to talk about. When Jost and Che appeared on Late Night Wednesday, Seth Meyers went down an extended list of everything they haven’t had the chance to cover since SNL ended its 42nd season back in May. It included James Comey’s testimony, Donald Trump Jr.’s Russia meeting, “the rise and fall of Anthony Scaramucci,” and several other major news stories, all of which have been covered extensively by the rest of late-night television.
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In their first primetime special this week, Jost kicked things off by going after Trump’s White House personnel shake-ups. “I don't know if you guys noticed but there were some minor staffing changes at the White House. Priebus is out, Spicer is out, Scaramucci barely got the tip in. At this point, I don't know if Trump is colluding with Russia but he's definitely colluding with Dancing with the Stars.”
“How did we at SNL miss Anthony Scaramucci?” Jost asked, turning self-referential right off the bat. “He was like Christmas in July. Actually he was like Hanukkah in July, because he was around for about a week and it's a miracle he lasted that long.”
On Trump’s “fire and fury” rhetoric against North Korea, Che joked that “this could be the one thing that brings America closer to Donald Trump. I mean, I know we're all pretty divided now, but we're, like, one North Korean missile strike away from slapping him on his big ole bacon back and yelling ‘Kick his ass, Donnie!’”
“Also, with all these threats between Kim Jong Un and Donald Trump, I'd feel more scared if they both hadn't made so many crazy claims in the past,” Jost added. “Like, I'll believe there will be a nuclear war after I see Jim Jong Un dunk a basketball and Mexico Venmos us for that wall.”
As predicted, Eric and Donald Trump Jr. (as played by SNL’s Alex Moffat and Mikey Day) where the first guests to stop by the desk to discuss their father’s accomplishments so far. But all Jost, and Eric, wanted to talk about was Don Jr.’s meeting with the Russians.
“The whole story is a nothing-burger,” Donald Jr. said. “Yes, I went to the meeting but nothing illegal happened. It's like on To Catch a Predator. Guy shows up to a house with a 12-pack of Mike's Hard Lemonade and turns out it's a sting. Guy shouldn't get in trouble because nothing happened!” Eric, meanwhile, kept himself busy with his fidget spinner.
But the real highlight of the night didn’t come until later in the show when former SNL star Bill Hader made a guest appearance as Anthony Scaramucci, FaceTiming into the show in an attempt to clear his reputation.
“It’s me, Anthony Scaramucci! The Mooch!” he said. “I heard you two nutless liberal ass wipes mention my name earlier and when I hear my name three times, I appear like a Goomba Beetlejuice.”
Asked if he was surprised that he only lasted 11 days on the job, the Mooch replied, “Hell no. Not after what I said to that ass-wipe from The New Yorker, which was off the record, but I guess people didn't like it when I said that—and let me see if I can clean this up for primetime—that Steve Bannon was trying to ‘s’ his own ‘c.’ And by the by, I was completely misquoted. I didn't say Bannon tried to ‘s’ his own ‘c,’ he did it! He made contact! I saw it, tongue to tip. Next question.”
“The Mooch has no regrets, baby,” he added of himself. “All I did was sell my company, miss the birth of my child and ruin my entire reputation, all to be king of idiot mountain for 11 days.”
Scaramucci may not be back in the White House anytime soon, but don’t be surprised if Hader’s impression shows up again on the big show this fall.
