First time host Aubrey Plaza returned to her NBC Page roots giving a backstage tour of the show, with a surprise cameo from former “SNL” cast member and “Parks and Recreation” star Amy Poehler and President Joe Biden.
“Wow, it is great to be here hosting ‘Saturday Night Live.’ This is a dream come true and yes I mean that,” she said.
“People think I’m weird because of the characters that I play,” she said. “My real family is here including my Grandma Margie. They all came up here from Delaware. I was voted most famous person from Delaware, I beat Joe Biden.”
“That’s a fact and he was pissed, he was livid,” she said.
The President then appeared, saying, “Aubrey, you’re the most famous person out of Deleware and there’s no question about that. We’re just grateful you made it out of‘White Lotus’alive.”
“When I was in college I worked here as an NBC page,” she said, adding that her duties were giving “tours around the building.”
Donning a page jacket, she gave a tour of “Historic studio 8H,” and talking about her reputation as a “bad page” with “terrible phone etiquette.”
“I see you are wearing your page jacket,” said Poehler. “Are you drinking again?”
Other cameos in a later sketch included Tony Hawk and the Property Brothers.
Aubrey Plaza’s monologue! pic.twitter/ZgspB9xCS9
— Saturday Night Live – SNL (@nbcsnl) January 22, 2023
In the cold open, Saturday Night Live wasted no time pouring salt on the wounds of New York Giants fans and the loss to the Philadelphia Eagles, as well as taking several shots at Congressman George Santos , with cast member Bowen Yang fudging NFL stats and donning a dress as Santos’ alter ego, drag queen Kitara Revache.
Yang’s Santos appeared as an NFL sideline reporter, bragging he was the one that won the game with “36/25 passes, 300 yards and 600 yards, 12 touchdowns, 17 rebounds and 10 RBIs.”
“I’m sort of the real Bo Jackson, and I’m proud to be first African American quarterback to ever dunk a football,” he said.
As Revache, he denied ever being a drag queen, saying, “Well, I didn’t do drag in Brazil,” he responded. “I didn’t do drag in Brazil under the nameKitara Ravache! Whoever did that was very, very good at it and won many, many pageants.”
Yang continued with the exaggerations, declaring, “Now allow me to give you my real stats: Death drops, 26. Duck walks, 19. Wigs snatched, infinity. …And I was also given the award for tightest tuck.”
Later on during “Weekend Update,” Poehler and Plaza reprised their roles as Leslie Knope and April Ludgate on “Parks and Recreation.”
In addition to the many cameos, actress Sharon Stone made a cameo lounging on a chaise lounge during a performance by musical guest, Sam Smith with a choir for “Gloria”. Smith was also joined by Kim Petras for “Unholy.”
“Saturday Night Live” stars Kenan Thompson, Mikey Day, Heidi Gardner, Ego Nwodim, Bowen Yang, Chloe Fineman, Punkie Johnson, Andrew Dismukes and Michael Che and Colin Jost as the hosts of Weekend Update. The cast also includes James Austin Johnson, Sarah Sherman, Marcello Hernandez, Molly Kearney, Michael Longfellow and Devon Walker as featured players. Kent Sublette, Alison Gates and Streeter Seidell serve as the head writers for the show, while Liz Patrick directs.
Watch the cold open below:
