On the occasion of the actual 50th anniversary of the first broadcast of “Saturday Night Live,” the show turned back the clock this week with an opening sketch that featured its former cast members Amy Poehler and Tina Fey.
Poehler, who was hosting this week’s show, played Attorney General Pam Bondi in a sketch lampooning her testimony to the Senate Judiciary Committee, while Fey made a surprise appearance as the homeland security secretary, Kristi Noem.
Kicking off her remarks, Poehler declared to the committee, “What’s up, nerds? Furious to be here.” Asked if she would affirm that her testimony was the truth, the whole truth and nothing but the truth, Poehler gave a derisive laugh and said, “No.”
She explained that she spelled “Bondi” “with an ‘I’ ’cause I ain’t gonna answer any questions” and said that the Justice Department had many ongoing operations “moving like Kash Patel’s eyeballs, very quickly in multiple directions at once.”
Poehler went on to roast various members of the Senate including Sen. Richard Blumenthal, D-Conn. (played by Mikey Day). “Even people in Connecticut go ‘Damn, that guy’s white as hell,’” she said.
Asked why U.S. troops were needed to protect Immigration and Customs Enforcement facilities, Poehler deferred to Noem, played by Fey, who burst into the hearing at the mention of her name, armed with a large automatic weapon. “Hold my gun,” she said, tossing it off-camera.
Fey said that she spelled the name “Kristi” “with an “I” ’cause that’s how I thought it was spelled.” She added that she was “the rarest type of person in Washington, D.C., — a brunette that Donald Trump listens to.”
Told by Day that Democrats were more eager than Republicans to end the government shutdown, Fey said, “Ha, that makes me laugh more than the end of ‘Old Yeller.’”
“When the dog gets shot?” Day asked, horrified.
She replied, “Dogs don’t just get shot. Heroes shoot them.”
After Fey gave an impromptu recruitment ad for ICE — (“Do you like to use zip ties because people in your life don’t trust you with keys?”) — Poehler said to the committee, “Does that answer your question?”
Jeremy Culhane, playing Sen. Sheldon Whitehouse, D-R.I., replied, “No. Not even a little bit.”
“Then our work here is done,” Poehler said.
Watch the SNL Skit here on NetNewz.tv
Dave Itzkoff wrote this article that originally appeared in The New York Times. Photos courtesy of Elizabeth Weinberg of NYT. Video courtesy of SNL and YouTube via the open internet.
