Saturday Night Live closed out its 51st season on Saturday night, where Will Ferrell returned to host the long-running sketch comedy series.
Before his opening monologue, the You’re Cordially Invited actor appeared in the cold open alongside James Austin Johnson’s Trump, where he portrayed a ghostly Jeffrey Epstein.
Upon returning from his trip to China, the faux president opted to get some rest and took a nap “on this gold bar that Switzerland gave me as a straight-up bribe.” As he drifted off to sleep, a cloudy vision of none other than Epstein popped up, in ghost form.
“Don’t worry, Donald, it’s me, your best friend, Jeffrey Epstein,” he said. “Jeffrey, I thought you were dead,” Johnson’s Trump replied.
“I am, remember? I killed myself. Wink!” Ferrell’s Epstein added. The two began to catch up, as Trump asked Epstein how heaven was. “It’s really hot,” he revealed.
“You know me, I keep busy, mahjong every Wednesday with Stalin and John Wayne Gacy. That guy has stories,” Ferrell’s Epstein said. “What else? Oh, I just wrote for the Kevin Hart roast. Had some zingers in there.”
Trump gave him a run-down on his “fun summer plans,” which include this year’s “Patriot Games,” which will assemble a group of high school athletes from every state and territory.
“Well, you know, we’ve got the World Cup UFC fight on my lawn like I’m white trash on WorldStar, and we’re also doing the Patriot Games where high school athletes come from all over the country,” Johnson’s Trump said. “Bo-oi-oi-oi-oing,” Ferrell’s Epstein replied.
“We had some fun times together, didn’t we, Donny? We should have taken more pictures,” he added. “No, it’s really bad that we took any,” Johnson’s Trump asserted.
For the third week in a row, Aziz Ansari also joined the cold open to portray Kash Patel, director of the FBI, alongside Colin Jost as Pete Hegseth.
Chad Smith of the Red Hot Chili Peppers crashed Ferrell’s monologue before the actor had a chance to make it on stage. Musical guest Paul McCartney, too, made a brief appearance. To add to the episode’s star-studded cameos, Ferrell’s Superstar co-star Molly Shannon also popped up in a later sketch.
The six-time Emmy Award winner made his sixth hosting appearance with the season 51 finale. He, of course, used to be an SNL castmember from 1995-2002, and went on to make his debut as host in 2005. He has made a number of cameos on the show throughout the years, and also appeared in the SNL‘s 50th Anniversary Special in February of last yaer.
With Ferrell as host, McCartney joined as the finale’s musical guest.
More to come.
