“Saturday Night Live” returned for another year, poking fun at Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene (R-Ga.), The coronavirus vaccine rollout and a Wall Street crisis during the show’s cold opening.
In a skit entitled “What still works,” actress and comedian Kate McKinnon hosted a fake talk show over the past few weeks with a slew of other cast members spoofing various figures in the news.
Among them was Greene.
“Thanks for hosting me,” comedian Cecily Strong, who portrays Greene, tells McKinnon and immediately offers her a gun.
McKinnon then asks about some of the conspiracy theories she was promoting on social media before being elected to Congress in November.
Strong’s Greene rattles out a list of false claims about the 2018 high school Parkland shooting and the September 11 terrorist attacks in New York City, asking, “Did anyone really see it happen?”
McKinnon, apparently concerned and perplexed, asks, “Are you a US representative?” and pressures her over what her colleagues on Capitol Hill have done in response to her statements.
“They promoted me to the Education Committee,” says Strong’s Greene.
“So the government isn’t working,” McKinnon replies.
Co-cast member Pete Davidson then joins McKinnon, playing a man identified as the “majority shareholder of GameStop.”
“Uhhh, we sell games,” says a seemingly oblivious Davidson. “People are already downloading their games now, so we’re kind of what you’d call it …”
“A dying company?” McKinnon asks. “So now it looks like …”
“Is the whole system a joke?” Davidson says.
A run for GameStop stock last week by armchair investors organized on the Internet led the company’s value to skyrocket on Wall Street before stock trading app Robinhood halted the company’s trades, a move that met with bipartisan repercussions.
Former cast member Keenan Thompson also appeared during the show’s first cold opening of the show’s New Year, playing the role of O.J.Simpson, wearing an ankle-tracking device while bragging about getting the coronavirus vaccine.
“So among the first 3 percent of all Americans who got the vaccine was OJ Simpson?” McKinnon asks.
“Guilty as charged … about the vaccine,” Simpson replies.
“Okay, so the vaccine rollout isn’t working,” she said.