'SNL' searches for comedy in classified documents

Happy Sunday! "Saturday Night Live" opened their show last night by making fun of the problem with classified documents, among other things, in Classified Press Conference Cold Open.

Attorney General Merrick Garland (Mikey Day) and FBI agents (Kenan Thompson, Ego Nwodim, Bowen Yang) give a press briefing on their search for more classified documents.

Believe it or not, this is only the second time I've mentioned Attorney General Merrick Garland on this blog, the first time being Meyers, Colbert, and Kimmel take closer looks at Biden documents, gas stoves, Trump investigations, and George Santos two weeks ago. The man's been in the news on and off since 2016, when then-President Obama nominated him to replace Antonin Scalia, only to have "Grim Reaper" Mitch McConnell refuse to hold hearings to confirm him. I guess I was too confident in Hillary Clinton winning in 2016 so he could be confirmed. Instead, The Former Guy won, so he nominated and the Senate confirmed Neil Gorsuch instead. Sigh. At least SNL found a way to make Garland funny so he receives the attention he deserves.

The episode continued examining classified documents in Weekend Update: Trump's Facebook Reinstated, George Santos Admits to Dressing in Drag.

Weekend Update anchors Colin Jost and Michael Che tackle the week's biggest news, like Mike Pence saying he is "ready and willing to fully cooperate" with any questions about the classified documents found in his home.

Not only did both the cold open and this first segment of Weekend Update focus on the search for classified documents, both made fun of former Vice President Mike Pence. He should take that as a compliment of sorts, as Pence is relatively boring otherwise. I've only been blogging about him lately when he gets sucked into someone else's scandals. As Rick Wilson wrote, "Everything Trump touches dies."

Speaking of whom, TFG returning to Facebook and Twitter is a reversal of his 2021 bans. Just like Jost, I think it will work out as well as reopening Jurassic Park, a spectacular and entertaining disaster.

While Bowen Yang didn't return to play George Santos, Weekend Update did mention him, proving my prediction that he will be a great inspiration for comedy as long as he stays in the news.

Both the Ticketmaster hearings and the closing of Splash Mountain at Disney World qualify this entry as the Sunday entertainment feature. Both news items tie into what I first wrote in 2011, "America is quite clear about its screwed up priorities­. My experience has convinced me that the surest way to get Americans to act is to mess with their entertainm­ent." Both Ticketmaster and Disney messed with (some) Americans' entertainment, although I'm more sympathetic with the Swifties than those complaining about Splash Mountain. The former are reacting to a monopoly, while the latter strike me as a bit selfish and insensitive. Besides, I think it's about time that "The Princess and the Frog" gets its own attraction, while "Song of the South" was dated even when the ride opened in 1989.*

Follow over the jump for two more clips from last night's show.

Weekend Update continued with TikTok Fights Texas Ban, Chipotle Hiring for "Burrito Season".

Weekend Update anchors Colin Jost and Michael Che tackle the week's biggest news, like a string of suspicious incidents involving animals at the Dallas Zoo.

TikTok, animals, and science — I should have more to say, but I think I wore myself out on the first segment.  I just hope the animals missing from the Dallas Zoo are O.K.

Michael B. Jordan hosted last night's show, but instead of embedding his monologue or the final clip from Weekend Update, where he made a cameo as Adonis Creed, I'm closing with Southwest Airlines Announcement, in which he also appears.

Southwest Airlines employees (Heidi Gardner, Devon Walker) introduce a new, upgraded airline experience.

As I wrote in 'SNL' on Thanksgiving and repeated in 'SNL' shares scary news for Halloween 2022, "This clip serves as another demonstration of the commercial...parodies being one of the best parts of 'SNL.' When they're on, they're on, and this one was ON!" Also, it was about time I covered this SNAFU. Watching this makes me glad I flew Delta before the pandemic. Since it began, I haven't flown at all, reducing my environmental footprint.

*I might just return to the topic of Splash Mountain, as there are enough videos about its closure and retheming. Stay tuned.