NBC’s “Saturday Night Live” had Oscar fever in its opening segment, ahead of Tinseltown’s big night.
Marcello Hernandez and Heidi Gardner portrayed “Access Hollywood’s” Mario Lopez and “either Maria Menounos or Kit Hoover, they haven’t told me yet,” Gardner cracked.
Mike Tyson, played by Kenan Thompson, was on hand as a hired security guard tasked with preventing another dustup like the Will Smith assault on Chris Rock.
“I should warn you, the following things will set me off,” the fake Tyson announced. “Clapping, statues of gold people, and shows that last more than two hours.”
Serial lying Long Island Rep. George Santos, played by Bowen Yang, showed up on the red carpet pretending to be Tom Cruise.
“I’m definitely Thomas Q. Cruise, star of this year’s blockbuster film ‘Top Bottom,'” Yang insisted.
Mikey Day and Molly Kearney stole the show as Colin Farrell and Brendan Gleeson from “The Banshees of Inisherin.” The duo’s Gaelic/broken English responses to questions about their chances left the hosts bewildered.
“Wow, and they haven’t even started drinking yet,” Hernandez quipped.
Marcello Hernandez portrayed Mario Lopez and Heidi Gardner played “either Maria Menounos or Kit Hoover, they haven’t told me yet.”NBC“Scream” actress Jenna Ortega hosted the episode, noting how her big acting break came when her mom put a video of her on Facebook.
“Which someone explained to me is like TikTok, but for racism instead of dancing,” the 20-year-old joked.
Ortega and Hernandez portrayed high school sweethearts whose emotional breakup outside a Waffle House was overshadowed by the lowbrow shenanigans underway inside the restaurant, as Ortega’s father shirtless — a shirtless Day sporting Riff Raff-style braids — got tased by a cop and thrown through a window.
Kenan Thompson’s Mike Tyson was tasked with preventing another Will Smith Oscar’s slap.NBC“SNL” alumni Fred Armisen dropped by Studio 8H as a movie crew member who added off-color dialogue to a read-through of “The Parent Trap,” with Ortega, playing a child actress.
Absent from its usual forum in the show’s cold open, politics returned to the fray in “Weekend Update.”
“President Biden’s proposed budget included $400 million to target Chinese disinformation,” fake news anchor Michael Che said.
Politics were absent from the show’s cold open sketch.NBC“It will target the number one source of Chinese disinformation: fortune cookies.”
Co-anchor Colin Jost noted how Fox News’ Tucker Carlson edited out the violence of Jan. 6 riot footage to “prove it was a peaceful gathering.”
“It’s like editing all the sex out of a porn video and saying ‘it’s a short film about being a stepmom,” he cracked.
The 1975 played their songs “I’m In Love With You” and “Oh Caroline” off the band’s 2022 album “Being Funny in a Foreign Language.”
The show was set to take a late winter/spring hiatus before returning to the air on April 1 with producer and actress Quinta Brunson along with musical guest Lil Yachty.
