‘SNL’ Weekend Update takes on budget bill, vaccine mandates, COVID origins -- and other political footballs
“No Time to Die” star Rami Malek guest-hosted the episode -- with cameos by Daniel Craig -- and Young Thug was the musical guest
{{#rendered}} {{/rendered}}"Saturday Night Live’s" Weekend Update fake news segment this weekend covered Democratic squabbling over the inclusion of President Biden’s climate policy in the budget bill, the New York City coronavirus vaccine mandate, the potential origins of the virus and Las Vegas Raiders coach Jon Gruden’s resignation.
"The Biden administration’s climate plan is likely to be dropped from the budget bill after Sen. Joe Manchin refused to support it," co-host Colin Jost said from behind the Weekend Update news desk. "But you know what, I’m not going to let some bad climate news ruin this beautiful 80-degree October day."
"I’m not going to let some bad climate news ruin this beautiful 80-degree October day."
Jost joked that Manchin, a West Virginia Democrat, would agree to the Biden plan only if it cuts clean energy and "officially makes coal one of the five food groups."
{{#rendered}} {{/rendered}}The sketch show previously lampooned Manchin – along with fellow Democratic moderate, Sen. Kyrsten Sinema of Arizona -- in the cold open two weekends ago for being at odds with most lawmakers on their side of the aisle.
Cast member Cecily Strong debuted her impression of the Arizona senator on Oct. 2, saying she didn’t come to Congress to make friends – "and so far, mission accomplished!"
Weekend Update managed to squeeze in one Biden joke this Saturday, with co-host Michael Che saying a new report found Biden is, on average, 22 minutes late to events.
{{#rendered}} {{/rendered}}"Worse, he only does it to appeal to Black voters," Che said.
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Che then mentioned that the NBA’s Brooklyn Nets have barred starting point guard Kyrie Irving from playing until he complies with New York’s City’s vaccine mandate.
{{#rendered}} {{/rendered}}"I hope this decision finally forces Kyrie to do the right thing and buy a fake vaccination card," he quipped.
Jost then comically suggested a way to solve logistical shipping delays from Asia to the U.S. that are hampered by worker shortages and virus outbreaks.
"Now this might sound crazy, but could we use bats? Cause the last time bats carried something it got everywhere real quick," he quipped about the speculated Wuhan origins of the virus. After some in the audience gasped at the joke, Jost asked, "Pro-bat crowd?"
{{#rendered}} {{/rendered}}Going back to Gruden's resignation over homophobic, misogynistic and racist emails, which the show covered thoroughly in its cold open, Jost said, "Clearly the emails are indefensible but does anyone want to be judged by their old emails?"
"I mean if you could see half the emails Che sends me," he said in a setup, then promising to show one of the emails. "The subject line is ‘Listen up, honky’ and then the body of the email just says, ‘I wish they got you instead of Harambe.’"
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{{#rendered}} {{/rendered}}Finally, Che revealed that Colin Kaepernick has said he still does 5 a.m. workouts in case he gets called back into the NFL after being a free agent for years over his kneeling for the national anthem.
"But the Giants are still going to stick with their current quarterback: a scarecrow on a Roomba," Che said.
"No Time to Die" star Rami Malek guest-hosted the episode – with cameo appearances by Daniel Craig – and Young Thug was the musical guest.