Saturday Night Live took a straightforward approach with its cold open, focusing on a parody of Donald Trump’s Oval Office meeting with Volodymyr Zelensky. In the sketch, Trump and Vice President JD Vance harshly criticized Zelensky as he attempted to argue that Russian President Vladimir Putin was untrustworthy.
The scene also featured a cameo from Mike Myers, who appeared as a chainsaw-waving Elon Musk.
“Donald, what are you doing in my office? You know I’m the president now, right?” Myers, in his Musk persona, quipped. “I’m kidding, I’m kidding. Maybe not? Maybe not?”
The sketch kicked off with Zelensky sitting across from Trump (James Austin Johnson) and Vance (Bowen Yang), alongside a motionless Secretary of State Marco Rubio (Marcello Hernandez).
“President Zelensky, you want to say a few words? Maybe tell Mr. Putin how much you love him and apologize for invading Russia? Maybe offer him one night with your wife,” Trump suggested.
“Mr. President, with all due respect,” Zelensky started, but was immediately cut off by Vance.
Vance jumped in, “Excuse me. I’m sorry, what? I’m trying to jump in here because that is not how we planned this. What happened to ‘thank you,’ okay? Remember ‘thank you’? You haven’t said thank you to us once in the past 15 seconds I’ve been yelling at you.”
The absurdity escalated as the sketch continued, taking the real-life tension in the Oval Office just a bit further. Zelensky attempted to speak, only to be attacked by Trump and Vance for not being deferential enough. Some of the lines echoed what Trump had actually said earlier that week.
“You say you want to end this war, but frankly, you don’t have the cards. Okay? I have the cards, all right? I have Skip. I have Draw Four. I have Reverse. I have Get Out of Jail Free. The Supreme Court gave me that one.”
“You got no cards. You’re playing Poker, and Putin’s playing Magic: The Gathering. And the Russians have been treated very badly with respect to the war, and also, frankly, Anora, right? Anora was misled and she fell in love, and now she may even lose to Brutalist. It’s disgusting.”
Trump then criticized Zelensky for his attire, saying, “It’s disrespectful. Who shows up at the White House with a T-shirt and jeans like a garbage person?”
This remark set the stage for Mike Myers, as Musk, to make his entrance—also wearing a T-shirt and jeans in the Oval Office. It was a pointed jab at the real-life critique of Zelensky’s wardrobe, especially considering that Musk had been dressed similarly just a week before, along with a ball cap.
Waving his chainsaw, Myers’ Musk relished his role in mass firings at Twitter.
“They’re saying I’m firing people without cause. I do have cause. It’s cause I feel like it,” he remarked.
Musk was soon joined by his sidekick, Big Balls, and they discussed their latest venture: the Department of Undoing Child Health Care And Education, or DOUCHE.