"Saturday Night Live" Targets George Santos, Brings On Cameos From Joe Biden, Amy Poehler

After a long hiatus, “Saturday Night Live” returned with guest host Aubrey Plaza and musical guest Sam Smith.

In the 10th episode of Season 48, the NBC sketch comedy show wasted no time in mocking congressman George Santos, the embattled New York Republican who for weeks has generated headlines over false statements about his background.

The episode also featured cameos from President Joe Biden and former cast member Amy Poehler. Like Plaza, Poehler starred in the NBC sitcom “Parks and Recreation.” Other cameos included actress Allison Williams, along with Jonathan and Drew Scott, otherwise known as the “Property Brothers,” as well as skateboard legend Tony Hawk.

German singer Kim Petras joined Smith in the first musical segment and actress Sharon Stone appeared in Smith’s second performance.

Here are some highlights from the episode.

Cold Open

“SNL” began the episode by mocking the “NFL on Fox” studio hosts for their shallow analysis. The sketch transitioned to mocking Santos, played by cast member Bowen Yang.

At one point, Santos — taking on his new role as a Fox sideline reporter — cites his “statistics,” which are not only outlandish but also don’t involve the sport, such as 17 rebounds and 10 RBI. He also claims he was “the first African-American player to dunk a football.”

Monologue

In perhaps the most well-executed segment of the episode, Plaza recalled her days as an NBC page but not before Biden appeared in a video to praise the Delaware native.

“You’re the most famous person out of Delaware, and there’s no question about that,” Biden said. “We’re just grateful you made it out of ‘White Lotus’ alive.”

Plaza satirized her lack of professionalism and knowledge as a former page, claiming the stage was built by William Shakespeare in 1599. She used air quotes to confirm she was “what they called a ‘bad page’ with ‘terrible phone etiquette.'” Plaza then grabs a phone call and uses an English accent to hilariously point out that “Lorne Michaels ain’t here, is he? So toodaloo back to you.”

She later bumps into Poehler. “Aubrey, I see you’re wearing your page jacket. Are you drinking again?” asked Poehler, who also noted that Plaza stole her wallet.

Sketches

A video segment about “The White Lotus” included cast member Chloe Fineman’s impersonation of Jennifer Coolidge. The sketch involved a luxury hotel called “The Black Lotus,” which has a Black staff who are impatient with the irritating and privileged white guests.

Another sketch involved a parody trailer of the science-fiction thriller “M3gan.” It involves Fineman as the murderous robotic doll and Plaza as a gay-friendly upgrade.

Weekend Update

Yes, there was more mocking of Santos. Other topics included Biden’s missing classified documents, the Donald Trump-Ron DeSantis rivalry and the U.S. debt limit.

Co-anchor Michael Che: “Donald Trump responded to reports that Ron DeSantis will run against him for the Republican nomination, saying, ‘We’ll handle this the way I handle things.’ So, rough and without consent?”

Ripping on Santos, co-anchor Michael Jost: “George Santos is facing multiple investigations for lying about nearly every aspect of his life to make himself appear far more successful than he is — earning him the nickname ‘Instagram.’ Of all of George Santos’ lies, my favorite was that he was a standout volleyball player for Baruch College. Now, that is a fine thing to be, but an insane thing to pretend to be. Like, that’s his fantasy? It’s like asking a kid, ‘what do they want to be when they grow up?’ And they’re like, ‘I don’t know? Assistant manager at Kohl’s?'”