Saturday Night Live returned with a sharp political cold open that tackled the uphill battles facing Republican strategists, featuring a revolving door of celebrity impressions, chaotic cameos, and direct parodies of recent political headlines. Hosted by Dakota Johnson with musical guest Turnstile, the late-night sketch comedy institution used its opening moments to skewer prominent conservative figures, policy strategies, and media moments from the past week.
The sketch opened in a tightly wound Republican war room, where cast members Andrew Dismukes and Ashley Padilla played stressed-out political strategists. The pair immediately established the premise of the sketch: they have their work cut out for them when it comes to building sustainable enthusiasm and positive buzz for the Republican Party amid a shifting political landscape. Their collective exhaustion set the tone for a parade of high-profile political impressions that quickly derailed any semblance of a conventional strategy meeting.
Marcello Hernández was first to step into the fray, making an appearance as Marco Rubio. Hernández’s Rubio addressed constituents in Spanish, offering a candid and surprisingly blunt assessment of the party’s current standing. In the sketch, Rubio admitted that Donald Trump had failed to live up to expectations and conceded that ongoing, endless military engagements were doing nothing to improve the state of affairs.
The chaos escalated further with the arrival of Mikey Day, who portrayed a frozen Mitch McConnell confined to a wheelchair. Day’s physical comedy centered entirely around McConnell’s rigid posture and lack of mobility, with the character restricted to communicating almost exclusively through a steady stream of peace signs. The bit nearly broke the fourth wall of the sketch when Day mistakenly attempted to deliver the iconic show-opening phrase, “Live from New York,” far too early in the sequence, drawing a sharp reaction from the rest of the cast and highlighting the unpredictable nature of live television comedy.
The parade of political impressions continued as Jeremy Culhane made a guest appearance as Vice President JD Vance. Culhane leaned heavily into the running comedic narrative regarding Vance’s perceived lack of charisma. The impression was underscored when Vance attempted a straightforward camera test, introducing himself with a painfully dry, unenthusiastic, “Hi, I’m JD Vance,” before being swiftly dismissed from the frame by the exasperated strategists.
However, the undeniable highlight of the cold open belonged to Colin Jost, who made a surprise return to the Saturday Night Live stage to play Pete Hegseth. Jost’s Hegseth wasted no time establishing his persona, immediately grabbing and chugging one of Tom Holland’s Bero beers, which he loudly referred to as “Spider-Man’s new non-alcoholic bitch beer.”
The segment directly parodied Hegseth’s widely discussed and unhinged “State of the Force” address from earlier in the week. Leaning into the militaristic and hyperbolic tone of the real-life speech, Jost’s character urged Republican voters to take action by doing something he framed as shocking: “I need all you patriots at home to do the gayest thing ever and vote.”
Jost’s Hegseth also offered a tongue-in-cheek update on military morale under his watch, boasting to the war room, “I’m putting God back in war and it’s working. Our soldiers are praying a lot more than they used to.” The biting satire of the military leadership style drew heavy laughs from the studio audience, seamlessly blending absurdist humor with recognizable political rhetoric.
The revolving door of political figures concluded with James Austin Johnson stepping in as Donald Trump. Johnson’s Trump sauntered into the sketch with a casual demeanor, dropping the phrase, “Let me cook,” before diving into a parody of his real-life political strategies.
Specifically, Johnson’s Trump lampooned his actual recent strategy of dangling financial incentives to secure electoral victories, joking about a plan to reimburse American voters for a Republican midterm win. “If the Republicans win, I’ll give everyone $5,000,” Trump declared in the sketch, before breaking the illusion with characteristic candor by adding, “and that is not a bribe because I have no intention of following through on that promise.”
With the political cold open setting a high-energy tone for the evening, the episode proceeded with Dakota Johnson taking over hosting duties and Turnstile delivering the musical performances, capping off another politically charged week of late-night satire.
