If you were expecting this week’s “Saturday Night Live” to kick off with a sketch parodying the Will Smith/Chris Rock slap at the Oscars, you may have been disappointed by the cold open. (That came later.) The slap was indeed mentioned, but it was just one of several topics brought up as the show once again turned to a Fox News parody to lead the episode.
(Chris Redd played Smith in a sketch later, with host Jerrod Carmichael playing a seat filler sitting next to the star during the moment of the slap.)
This week, it was another go at “Fox and Friends,” featuring hosts Steve Doocy (played by Alex Moffat), Ainsley Earhardt (Heidi Gardner) and Brian Kilmeade (Mikey Day). The hosts welcomed Clarence Thomas (Kenan Thompson) and wife Ginni Thomas (Kate McKinnon) — whose support of the January 6 attempted coup has become a lightning rod for scandal.
“I take my duty as the Yoko Ono of the Supreme Court very seriously,” McKinnon as Ginni Thomas said. “All I want is a tidal wave of biblical vengance to wash away the Biden crime family all the way to Gitmo and then we release the Kraken.”
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Also on hand was Cecily Strong as host Jeanine Pirro. “Later on ‘The Five,’ Disney has an exciting new project: turning your kindergartener gay!” Strong as Pirro screamed to the audience. “Governor DeSantis signed a bill protecting our precious Florida schools from America’s dangerous Ellens and Caitlyns. By the way, Caitlyn Jenner, welcome to the Fox News family! Now, ‘Woke Disney’ won’t stop until all of Disney World is packed with twinkerbelles, Cinderfellas and that gay Mr. Toad.”
When “Donald Trump” (James Austin Johnson) dialed in, he was asked about the Smith/Rock Oscars slap. And he answered… by referring to Smith as his character in the film “Hitch.”
“I did see Slap, I enjoyed slap. I was I was very impressed with my Hitch. Quite an arm on Hitch. I always knew Hitch had an arm. Back in ‘Pursuit of Happyness,’ he’s slugging the machine on and off the subway. I thought it was great. You know, they slept in the bathroom in that movie. It’s so sad. it’s a sad night for Hitch too.”
Oh, and Trump basically confessed to his role in the coup attempt. “I was too busy with burner phone and coup,” he said. “Could’ve been, should’ve been, maybe violent is perhaps good. They used to do violent all the time.”
Trump calls in to Fox & Friends pic.twitter.com/6dEMdVXnXa
— Saturday Night Live – SNL (@nbcsnl) April 3, 2022
Comedian Jerrod Carmichael is the April 2 host of “Saturday Night Live.” The gig comes one night after the premiere of his HBO special “Jerrod Carmichael: Rothaniel.”
“I’m not going to talk about it,” Carmichael said at the start of his monologue. He was referring, of course, to the Slap. “Aren’t you sick of talking about it? It feels like we were talking about it for so long. This is going to really blow your minds. Can you believe it’s been six days? Six days. This happened a week ago. I feel like it happened years ago. I feel like it happened when we were all in high school.
“Like, it feels like it happened somewhere between Jamiroquai and 9/11. Like somewhere a long, long time ago. It feels like we’ve been living in the wake of in our entire lives. It happened on Sunday. On Sunday. It’s Saturday, bro. On Monday, it was exciting. I’m not gonna lie. If this were Monday. You wouldn’t be able to get me to shut up about it.”
But Carmichael said exec producer Lorne Michaels asked him to talk about it during his monologue. “By Friday I made a vow to myself. I promised myself I would never ever talk about it again. Then Lorne came into my dressing room: ‘I think you need to talk.’ He said, ‘the nation needs to heal.’ Carmichael said Michaels told him. Carmichael noted that much of the audience hasn’t heard of him. “I may be the least famous host [in ‘SNL’ history]!”
Jerrod Carmichael’s monologue! pic.twitter.com/lJGzY0R9zo
— Saturday Night Live – SNL (@nbcsnl) April 3, 2022
Later, in a sketch, Carmichael as a seat filler was sitting next to Smith (Chris Redd) who jumps up and slaps Chris Rock — but then acts like everything is normal:
The slap footage you didn’t see pic.twitter.com/7Iiy0ws0a5
— Saturday Night Live – SNL (@nbcsnl) April 3, 2022
In his monologue, Carmichael noted how he came out as gay in the HBO special. The audience applauded — which he said was appreciated, but it’s also why he lives in New York. “If you say you’re gay in New York, you can ride the bus for free and people will give you pizza. You get to host ‘Saturday Night Live.’ This is the gayest thing you can do.”
The special, which was taped in February at the Blue Note Jazz Club in New York City, made headlines because much of it centers on Carmichael publicly coming out as gay for the first time. The special begins with stories of Carmichael’s family history, leading up to his own coming out process. Carmichael talks about the weight of keeping this secret throughout his life and career, and how coming out has changed his relationships with his friends and family.
Carmichael is joined at Studio 8H by Gunna, who is also marking his first time at “SNL” musical guest. The Grammy-nominated artist’s latest album, “DS4Ever,” debuted at No. 11 on the Billboard 200 chart.
Next week, on April 9, Jake Gyllenhaal will host “SNL” for the second time. The actor’s next film, “Ambulance,” arrives in theaters the day before he hosts the show. Camilla Cabello is the musical guest that night, making her second appearance. Her performance is tied to the release of her new album, “Familia,” on April 8.
For the April 16 show, Lizzo will be a first-time “SNL” host and second-time musical guest.
“SNL” airs Saturdays at 11:30 p.m. ET/8:30 p.m. PT on NBC. The show, which was on hiatus last week, also streams live on Peacock.
Created and executive produced by Lorne Michaels, “Saturday Night Live” is produced in association with Broadway Video. The sketch show recently featured John Mulaney, who joined the prestigious “SNL” five-timers club, “Moon Knight” star Oscar Isaac and “The Batman” star Zoe Kravitz as hosts.
