For its Season 51 finale,Saturday Night Livethrew everything at the wall in a shocking, Jeffrey Epstein-filled cold open.
The sketch featured President Donald Trump (James Austin Johnson) being visited by the ghost of Jeffrey Epstein, played for the first time by this week’s host,SNLlegend Will Ferrell.
When Trump told his old pal that his approval ratings were in the 30s, Ferrell’s Epstein replied, “Oh, the 30s? Gross. Call me when it hits 17.”
The cold open poked fun at the alleged friendship between Trump and the convicted sex trafficker, a topic thatSNLhasmocked ruthlesslyat the “Weekend Update” desk all season.
“Man, we had some fun times together, didn’t we, Donny?“ Epstein mused. ”We should have taken more pictures.”
The sketch ended with the two singing “Just the Two of Us,” by Bill Withers and Grover Washington, Jr.
At one point, it looked like the two were about to kiss, but Epstein playfully turned his head away.
The episode is the show’s last chance until the fall to take any shots at the Trump administration, so the cold open used aChristmas Carol-themed format to pay tribute to three of the season’s most iconic impressions: Ashley Padilla’s Kristi Noem, Colin Jost’s Pete Hegseth, and Aziz Ansari’s Kash Patel.
For Noem, who Trumpfiredas Secretary of Homeland Security in March, the vision showed Noem six months from now—starring in ads for vacuum cleaners.
“It’s the best way to clean up that mess your dog made, besides a gun,” Noem joked, in what might beSNL‘s final joke about how Noemonce braggedabout shooting her own dog.
Ferrell’s Epstein showed a vision of the future where Hegseth and Patel were still partying in a bar together, much like they were inlast week’scold open.
When Hegseth started reading a podcast ad promoting “Poland Sprung, the first-ever hard water,” Trump took it as a good sign.
“Well, if Pete’s podcasting, I guess that means that the war in Iran is over,” Trump said.
Epstein replied, “Yep, we came in second.”
Ansari’s Patel also delivered his own ad read, making fun of the real Patel’s hobby ofcreatingpersonalized bourbon bottles.
