The Jan. 6 hearings have been prime political fodder for months, and they continue to get the late-night comedy treatment, this week serving as the cold open for “Saturday Night Live.”
Kenan Thompson opened the show presiding as Jan. 6 committee chairman Rep. Bennie Thompson during the closing statements of the hearings, calling the attack at the U.S. Capitol one of the most “dramatic and consequential moments in our nation’s history.”
“So to fight back, we assembled a team of monotone nerds to do a PowerPoint,” Thompson says.
Heidi Gardner as Rep. Liz Cheney jokes across the aisle: “Whether you’re a Republican who’s not watching or a Democrat who’s nodding so hard your head is falling off, one person is responsible for this insurrection: Donald Trump. And one person will suffer the consequences: me.”
Cheney (Gardner), daughter of the former vice president in the George W. Bush administration, brings up her political power-player father. “You might be wondering what makes me so tough. And I ask you, who was your dad? Is it Dick Cheney?”
She adds: “I guess you could say I have big Dick Cheney energy.”
Earlier this week during the real hearing, the committee showed footage of Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer, House Speaker Nancy Pelosi and Vice President Mike Pence conferring on the state of the Capitol. Saturday’s episode of the sketch comedy series showed its own clips from the video, with Chloe Fineman’s Pelosi on the phone with Pence.
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“Yes, hello, Mr. Vice President, it’s Speaker Pelosi. What is happening over there? Wait, when can we get back to the Capitol and resume the vote?”
Meanwhile, frenetic Rep. Chuck Schumer, played by Sarah Sherman, is more worried about his lunch order being delivered.
“Hello, DoorDash? It’s Chuck Schumer. Yes, we still haven’t received any of our lunch order! And I did change the drop-off location due to some unfortunate treason, but it still should have arrived by now,” Sherman says.
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Later in the cold open, Fineman is back on the phone as Pelosi.
“Mr. Vice President, it’s Speaker Pelosi again,” as Sherman’s Schumer butts in: “Tell them I’m here, too!”
“Where is President Trump? What is he doing to stop this?” Fineman asks. “And hi, Mike! It’s Chuck Schumer. I’m here as well,” Sherman says.
“Let me tell you, if Trump comes here right now, I’m gonna punch him right in the face. I’ll go to jail, but I’ll be happy,” Fineman says.
“And I’ll tell you if Trump comes, I’m gonna let him punch me in the face. I’ll go to the hospital, free soup,” Sherman says.
Gardner’s Cheney says that former President Trump, spoofed by James Austin Johnson, had “planned to declare victory (in the 2020 election) no matter the results.”
“You know the votes don’t matter, I’ve always said that, that the votes don’t matter at all. Because what even is a vote?” Johnson’s Trump asks on a phone call, saying “it’s just a piece of paper you fold up and put it in a hat a guy shakes around.”
As the camera cuts away, he yells out, “Is Mike Pence dead yet?”
The “Weekend Update” segment also took a shot at Trump and the hearings.
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“After the Jan. 6 committee subpoenaed Donald Trump, Trump responded the next day with a 14-page letter,” anchor Colin Jost says. “14 pages. OK, Unabomber.”
“I don’t know if this is a coincidence,” Jost adds, “but Trump wrote the letter on the same day the FDA confirmed the nation is experiencing a shortage of Adderall. I just know from experience in college, any time I wrote a 14-page paper in one night, I had also taken a disturbing amount of Adderall.”
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This article originally appeared on USA TODAY: ‘SNL’ spoofs January 6 hearings, Trump subpoena in cold open jokes
