In their new live Peacock special New York After Dark, Colin Jost and Michael Che delivered a tease for what “Weekend Update” fans can expect when Saturday Night Live returns on Sept. 28, with some added political humor about the election.
Though the pair mostly sat back and handed the stage over to lesser-known comics like Aminah Imani and Alex English, before that they explained how their special was being aired live. “We wanted it to be at least the second funniest live event this week, after the debate. I don’t know about you guys, but I thought my guy did great,” Jost said.
“You gonna vote for Trump?” Che joked. “Come on out of the closet and say you’re gonna vote for Trump.”
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Jost remarked, “Nothing sounds more presidential than screaming, ‘They’re eating the cats and the dogs!’ I mean, I think that was Thomas Jefferson, right? And I actually do have to thank our first sponsor, ‘Cats & Dogs: A dog meat for migrants.’”
As he said it, a stagehand gave Jost a bag of dog food with a taped-on “Cats & Dogs” label, which Jost displayed to the crowd.
“This motherf---er’s doing prop comedy,” Che joked. “We got one opportunity to do live stand-up, you’re doing prop comedy on a debate reference… Jesus Christ.”
The duo weren’t the only ones to use material about the debate throughout the special. Comedian Aida Rodriguez talked about Trump’s viral rant about Haitian immigrants in Springfield, Ohio, “eating the dogs,” which she said gave her a realization about the state of the race.
“I was like, ‘Oh, Donald Trump has lost his white women,’” she said. “That’s why he was like, ‘they coming for your pets, girl.’ And all the white b----es jumped in trucks with guns, and they headed to Ohio to kill my people.”
Rodriguez continued, “I’m half Puerto Rican and half Dominican. And yes, if I’m Dominican, I have Haitian blood, so they talking about me. And I just want y’all to know: we coming for your pets, motherf---ers.”
