'SNL' expels George Santos in its cold open

I made a prediction at the end of U.S. House expels George Santos: "I anticipate Bowen Yang will make one last impersonation of him on Saturday Night Live." That came true in George Santos Expelled Cold Open - SNL.

George Santos (Bowen Yang) holds a press conference after being expelled from Congress.

Called it! Also, is it just me, or is the audience rowdier than usual? Not that it's a bad thing, as it makes the jokes even funnier, but it sure makes this episode stand out.

Santos continued to be the subject of comedy in Weekend Update: George Santos Expelled From Congress, Elon Musk Meets with Netanyahu - SNL.

Weekend Update anchors Colin Jost and Michael Che tackle the week’s biggest news, like George Santos being the sixth member of Congress to be expelled, a BLM co-founder coming out in support of Trump and Melania Trump attending Rosalynn Carter’s funeral.

While I covered Henry Kissinger's death, I neglected the passings of Rosalynn Carter and Sandra Day O'Connor here, although I did share iCivics tribute to O'Connor Honoring the Life and Legacy of Our Founder at the Coffee Party/Citizen Connect Facebook page, so I didn't completely ignore it. I'm glad SNL mentioned both famous women. They deserve at least that much.

Weekend Update shifted gears from politics to public health with Weekend Update: Old Fashioned Cigarette on Banning Vapes.

An Old Fashioned Cigarette (Michael Longfellow) stops by Weekend Update to discuss Australia's move to ban nicotine vapes.

I'm not on the cigarette's side, as I've posted Quitting smoking in the New Year ten years ago, cigarettes as a fire hazard and source of indoor air pollution in Chemical and fire hazards in furniture nine years ago, and cigarette butts as litter in Recycling cigarette butts: Student Sustainability Video Festival 66 six years ago. On the other hand, I've only mentioned vaping devices as e-cigarettes twice, first as one of the stories in Health news from campuses on the campaign trail and again in E-Cigs: A 21st Century health issue, both ten years ago. That doesn't mean I like vaping all that much either. As I wrote in a comment on the last entry, "I don't like smoking and think this is still a way to get people addicted to nicotine." I haven't changed my mind in the decade since.

Follow over the jump for the rest of Weekend Update, the monologue, and two other clips I enjoyed.

The first story of Weekend Update: Naked Man Arrested at Disneyland, Doritos AI Software justifies this entry as the Sunday entertainment feature.

Weekend Update anchors Colin Jost and Michael Che tackle the week’s biggest news, like Sports Illustrated writing articles using AI, the first Lifetime Christmas movie featuring a sex scene and a three year long cruise cancelled due to a lack of a ship.

So does the second, which was all over the Disney YouTube channels I follow. Florida Man in California!

SNL was not done with AI. Watch Please Don’t Destroy - AI - SNL.

After a hard drive malfunction ruins Emma Stone’s Please Don’t Destroy video, AI technology comes to the rescue.

The original cast of SNL called themselves "The Not Ready For Prime Time Players" and that's what I think of this AI. It's not ready for primetime, either, but that's the joke.

I'll get back to Emma Stone after sharing Diet Coke by Olay - SNL.



A skincare brand launches a new product.
I'm being a good environmentalist by recycling my reaction from 'SNL' searches for comedy in classified documents.

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!"

I close with Emma Stone Five-Timers Monologue - SNL.

Emma Stone celebrates her fifth time hosting Saturday Night Live with Tina Fey and Candice Bergen inducting her into the hallowed Five-Timers Club.

While Tina Fey is bragging about having six million viewers for 30 Rock, I'm imagining Candice Bergen thinking "That's nothing. Murphy Brown had an 18.6 Nielsen rating in 1991-1992 and was the third most watched show in the U.S." This was a missed opportunity for the writers. I guess they're too young to remember it.

That's enough of SNL for today. It will return with Adam Driver as host and Olivia Rodrigo on Saturday. I plan on posting another highlights entry next Sunday. Stay tuned.