Matt Gaetz, Hunter Biden, and Juan Soto visit the Church Lady on 'SNL'

Happy Sunday! It's time for highlights of last night's Saturday Night Live beginning with Church Chat 2024 Cold Open.

Church Lady (Dana Carvey) interviews Matt Gaetz (Sarah Sherman), Hunter Biden (David Spade) and Juan Soto (Marcello Hernández).

Yes, Satan had a good year, and it's not over yet.

I haven't featured Weekend Update since 'SNL' reacts to the election and Weekend Update: Manhunt for CEO Assassin, President Biden Pardons Son Hunter shows what a busy news week it's been.

Weekend Update anchors Colin Jost and Michael Che tackle the week's biggest news, like the ongoing manhunt for the man who assassinated the CEO of United Healthcare.

I don't recall ever seeing so little sympathy for a murder victim, which SNL still managed to make light of successfully. Even so, it looks like the writers couldn't make a joke out of "deny, delay, depose," which echoes Delay, Deny, Defend, the title of a book outlining how insurance companies refuse to play claims. The killer couldn't have made his motive any clearer.

Sean "Diddy" Combs earned mentions both here and the cold open, qualifying this as the Sunday entertainment feature, and there will be more about movies over the jump, but I'm moving on to sports in the next segment, A Mom Whose Son Just Got Famous.

A mom (Heidi Gardner) whose son (Marcello Hernández) just got famous stops by Weekend Update to discuss navigating her son’s overnight success.

In case you think Heidi Gardner isn't realistic as Marcello Hernández's mother, you should see his real mom; Heidi isn't far off. Also, Marcello does a good parodic impression of an athlete, both here and in the cold open.

Follow over the jump for the rest of last night's highlights.

Last night's host explored his past and present movie roles in Paul Mescal Monologue, along with a funny riff on American ideas about Irish culture.

Paul Mescal talks about his comedy chops and clears up some nasty rumors about the Irish.

I consider myself to be Irish-American and Fighting Irish mascots don't bother me at all.

Mescal didn't receive a credit in the description of A Complete Unknown Red Carpet, but he's in the preview image playing Bono.

A reporter (Heidi Gardner) interviews Bob Dylan (James Austin Johnson), Timothée Chalamet (Chloe Fineman), Bruce Springsteen (Andrew Dismukes) and more on the A Complete Unknown red carpet.

I agree with Mescal as Bono about the seriousness of climate change, but watching Chloe Fineman's impression reminds me that I'm voting on two Timothée Chalamet movies at the Saturn Awards, Dune: Part Two and Wonka, but I think his performance in A Complete Unknown will likely get more critical and awards attention. We'll find out when the Critics' Choice Awards and Golden Globe nominations come out later this week.

I close with two commercial parodies featuring Mescal, beginning with the live Italian Restaurant Commercial.

Two actors (Paul Mescal, Ashley Padilla) go off script while filming a commercial for an Italian restaurant.

Kudos to the writers for all the pasta puns and to the cast members and Mescal for pulling them off.

Now for a pre-recorded parody, Gladiator II Trailer.

A movie trailer introduces a musical version of Gladiator II.

As long as the melody is original and not taken from Wicked, Moana/Moana 2, or another musical, I suspect it will be nominated at next year's Emmy Awards for Outstanding Original Music and Lyrics. The skit itself reminded the commenters on this video of Pedro Pascal's HBO Mario Kart Trailer from two years ago, which earned SNL three of its Emmy nominations in 2023, Outstanding Guest Actor in a Comedy Series for Pascal, Outstanding Picture Editing for Variety Programming for the skit itself, and Outstanding Short Form Nonfiction or Reality Series for the behind the skit series. This skit could earn those nominations next summer. Speaking of nominations, I expect Gladiator II will be nominated for Best Action/Adventure Film at next year's Saturn Awards.* You read it here first.

Also, as I write whenever I feature these skits, these clips serve as demonstrations of the commercial parodies being one of the best parts of SNL. When they're on, they're on, and both of them were ON!

*Speaking of Best Action/Adventure Film at the Saturn Awards, I plan on covering this year's nominees tomorrow. I have the post already half-written. Stay tuned.