Saturday Night Live returned to Global TV after a month-long hiatus, and it was no big surprise to see the show’s first cold open of 2018 borrow much of its material from the fallout from the release of the tell-all book, “Fire and Fury: Inside the Trump White House.”
But the skit, which depicted an episode of the MSNBC talk show Morning Joe, made it a point to first address President Donald Trump‘s alleged “shithole” comment.
READ MORE: African ambassadors to UN blast Trump’s ‘shithole’ remark as ‘outrageous,’ ‘racist’
The episode begins with co-host Joe Scarborough interviewing an African-American academic for his reaction to Trump’s remarks, only to interrupt the expert every single time he attempts to speak.
“When is it their turn, how long will they be silenced?” Scarborough asks towards the end of the “interview,” but just as the expert begins to speak, cuts him off saying, “Great points, thanks for joining us!”
Scarborough and co-host Mika Brzezinski, a married couple in real life, then introduce special guest Michael Wolff, author of the “Fire and Fury” book, played by former SNL cast member Fred Armisen.
WATCH: Michael Wolff: People close to Donald Trump consider him a ‘moron’ who acts ‘like a child’
Asked if there was any damning material on Trump that didn’t make the book, Wolff mentions that he left out the part about “baby races.” He elaborates that Trump would ask to have two babies of different ethnicities race in his office, and that he would say, “A thousand bucks on the black one!”
Scarborough then confronts Wolff with the suggestion that some of the book’s claims have been proven to be untrue, but the author suggests that isn’t a problem.
“You read it, right? And you liked it? You had fun?” Wolff asks curtly. “Well then, what’s the problem? You got the gist, so shut up.
“Even the stuff that’s not true, it’s true,” he adds.
READ MORE: Trump makes first public comments since Hawaii false missile alarm panic — to slam Michael Wolff
Scarborough then points out that “one person who’s heavily featured in this book is Steve Bannon,” triggering Bannon’s introduction to viewers.
As always, Bannon was depicted as the Grim Reaper, but was shown removing his hood for the first time, revealing actor, comedian and SNL alum Bill Murray.
Bill Murray’s Bannon denies ever calling Donald Trump Jr. “treasonous” or saying that he “cracked like an egg on TV” but, pressed by Wolff, admits that those do sound like his words.
He then proclaims that “the Bannon dynasty is dawning,” but asked by Brzezinski to discuss what exactly he’s been doing since being fired by Breitbart, he says he’s working on a web series called “Cucks in cars getting coffee,” and that he’s planning to release a new line of wrinkled barn jackets.
READ MORE: Steve Bannon leaving Breitbart News following blow-up with Donald Trump
Bannon then says that having helped Trump get elected, he’s now looking forward to the next election, where he plans to champion a new candidate, name-dropping YouTube vlogger Logan Paul, notorious “pharma bro” Martin Shkreli and disgraced Subway spokesperson Jared Fogle.
WATCH: Alec Baldwin’s Trump hangs ornaments of former staff, Robert Mueller, Roy Moore in SNL cold open
The Morning Joe episode then ends with a throw to special guest Oprah.
Asked if she plans to run for president, Oprah replies, “Well I am a celebrity, so I’m qualified!”
Saturday Night Live airs on Global TV.
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