Saturday Night Live returned to the air this weekend after a three-week break, but for the first time this season, the cold open didn’t feature a political sketch.
Instead, the segment poked fun at Joe Scarborough and Mika Brzezinski, the newly-engaged co-hosts of the MSNBC talk show Morning Joe, who were portrayed as having a hard time balancing professional on-screen demeanors with lovey-dovey tendencies.
However, President Donald Trump did make a cameo, while the hot topic of health care in America wasn’t ignored.
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The cold open began to the tune of Rock and Roll All Nite by KISS, with the co-hosts stating their intention to discuss the passing of Trump’s health care plan through the U.S. House of Representatives.
“This party, the party, your party, the Republican Party is completely morally bankrupt at this point,” Brzezinski begins, much to the frustration of Scarborough (a former Republican representative).
“Oh Mika, that’s enough okay? You’re being snickety because you know it pushes my buttons,” he exclaims.
“Does it? Push your buttons?” Brzezinski asks seductively, before reaching in and tousling Scarborough’s hair.
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At this point, Scarborough throws to the show’s political contributor Mike Barnicle for his views on the bill, but Barnicle appears too shaken by the co-hosts’ PDA to speak intelligently on the topic.
“I don’t know what’s going on, this bill is puzzling,” a visibly awkward Barnicle mumbles.
Scarborough then asks whether the passage of the health care bill through the House is nothing more than a Republican political ploy, considering the fact that people with serious pre-existing conditions could be denied health care.
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Scarborough then scolds his co-host again, but his use of the nicknames “Mika-mouse” and “Mika-boo” serve to create another moment of on-screen romantic awkwardness. The two lean in together and look like they’re about to kiss,” before Scarborough regains his composure and introduces contributor Mike Halpern.
But like Barnicle before him, Halpern looks mortified.
“What is their relationship like? Confusing,” he says with an expression of disgust.
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Scarborough then asks co-host Willie Geist, “What do you see here?”
“What am I seeing here? I have no idea, I have so many unanswered questions,” he says.
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With few insights from the show’s contributors, the co-hosts then field a phone call from a White House publicist named “John Miller” — only when “Miller” speaks, it becomes apparent that it’s really Trump (voiced by Alec Baldwin) on the line.
“First, I want to wish everyone a happy Cinco de Mayo, which is the day all Mexicans eat a sink full of mayonnaise,” Trump says.
He then says Republicans held a party to celebrate the repealing of Obamacare, but Scarborough promptly reminds him that the bill still has to pass through the Senate.
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“What now?” is Trump’s baffled response.
“But… there was beer.”
Brzezinski then taunts him for celebrating prematurely, before Trump responds, “You know what, we’re going to look into this, talk to you soon, bye-bye” before hanging up abruptly.
Brzezinski then speculates that the president is mentally ill and has “entered a state of psychosis”, prompting Scarborough to accuse her of “being naughty” — triggering yet another cringe-worthy display of on-screen affection.
As they did throughout the sketch, the show’s panelists look on, utterly mortified.
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