On the day that Oscar winner and New York icon Diane Keaton died, Saturday Night Live went for a traditional political cold open tonight with a Not Ready for Primetime Players legends reunion
Specifically, SNL pulled in many of its current cast as various befuddled senators questioning MAGA Attorney General Pam Bondi and gun-carrying Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem. The two Donald Trump cabinet members were played by tonight’s host Amy Poehler and her partner-in-comedy-crime of many years ago Tina Fey, respectively.
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“Before I don’t answer, I’d like to insult you personally,” Poehler’s all attitude Bondi tossed out at the top while bragging of “many of the roast-style burns” she had on hand for her testimony.
Actual testimony did take place on Capitol Hill this past week, with the former Sunshine State AG repeatedly rebuffing Democratic senators over citizen-accosting ICE and American troops in U.S. cities, Jeffrey Epstein, the indictment of ex-FBI director James Comey and the current shutdown. Or, as Poehler said in tonight’s opener, “the DOJ has many ongoing operations, and we’re moving like Kash Patel’s eyeballs very quickly in multiple directions at once.”
In one of the fastest-moving and leanest cold opens in many an SNL, Fey’s Noem exclaimed, after she tossed her machine gun aside: “I’m the rarest type of person in Washington D.C., a brunette that Donald Trump listens to.”
Harking back to Noem’s memoir referencing dog killing that likely saw ex-South Dakota governor dropped from Trump’s VP short list last year, tonight’s skit saw Fey declaring that the idea Democrats want the shutdown over “makes me laugh more than the end of Old Yeller.”
Or put another way: “Dogs don’t just get shot. Heroes shoot them.”
See Fey’s entrance on the nostalgic hot cold open above.
Keaton, who never hosted nor appeared on stage at SNL over its five-decade run, died this morning in Los Angeles at the age of 79, her family made public today. Starring in all three Godfather films, the Academy Award winner for 1977’s Annie Hall had a career that spanned from 1970-2024.
For Keaton’s lack of SNL experience, tonight’s show was a true blast from the past besides the reunion, with former cast member Poehler back for her third stint as host. Those appearances come on top of Poehler’s “Weekend Update” co-anchor role with Fey and many others, including a punchy Hillary Clinton alongside Fey’s career-defining Sarah Palin while on SNL from 2001-2008.
Along with Poehler’s return as host, Role Model makes his SNL debut as the musical guest this week.
Next week sees another one of those rare-ish SNL occasions when the host and the musical guest are one and the same — in this case Sabrina Carpenter. The “Espresso” singer was previously on the NBC late-nighter for the last episode of Season 49 on May 18, 2024. Carpenter also appeared on February’s SNL50 anniversary special singing “Homeward Bound” with multiple SNL host and guest Paul Simon.
A good pairing, but no Amy Poehler and Tina Fey.
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