- - 'SNL' mocks Hegseth, Trump over Venezuelan boat strikes in cold open

Brendan Morrow, USA TODAY December 7, 2025 at 6:22 AM

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"Saturday Night Live" is back to take on the Trump administration's Venezuelan boat strikes.

The sketch show's latest cold open on Dec. 6 starred Colin Jost as Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth delivering a combative press conference about the United States' recent assault on alleged drug boats.

In the skech, Jost's Hegseth, after chugging an energy drink, angrily declared "we're now at war with Venezuela," and before taking questions, he told reporters to "pretend I'm a random fishing boat and fire away."

Jost as Hegseth then defended what he dubbed "operation kill everybody," and when asked for an official death toll from the strikes, he said, "Let's just say if I had a drink for every Venezuelan we've killed, I'd really like that number of drinks." After one reporter in the sketch suggested the administration's "so-called war on smugglers is a smokescreen for regime change," Jost's Hegseth admitted, "Of course that's what we're doing!"

Jost's Hegseth went on to insist that President Donald Trump has his back and is a "high-energy alpha," only for the sketch to cut to James Austin Johnson as Trump sleeping through the press conference.

"I wasn't sleeping," Johnson's Trump said after waking up. "I'm very much awake. Now, someone quickly tell me: Where am I, who am I, and what year might it be?"

He added, "I stand by Pete, and nothing can change my mind. Unless, of course, it could hurt me in any way, in which case I'll throw him under one of Mamdani's free busses."

The sketch ended with Trump once again falling asleep, this time while standing up, leading Hegseth to say, "We've got to get him to another MRI before he wakes up."

'SNL' skewers Trump over Jeffrey Epstein emails in cold open

The cold open also featured Sarah Sherman reviving her impersonation of Matt Gaetz, now as a reporter, and included a nod to Netflix's proposed purchase of Warner Bros. A faux opening bumper for C-SPAN featured a message from the network: "Hey, Netflix: We're for sale, too."

Melissa McCarthy hosted the first episode of "SNL" since mid-November after the show took a three-week break around the Thanksgiving holiday. This marked McCarthy's sixth time serving as host on "SNL," but first time doing so since 2017. She previously won an Emmy for her work on the show.

Colin Jost as Pete Hegseth on "Saturday Night Live" on Oct. 4, 2025.

The previous episode of "SNL" in November opened with a sketch spoofing Trump's reaction to the release of emails written by convicted sex offender Jeffrey Epstein. In the sketch, Ashley Padilla played White House press secretary Karoline Leavitt, insisting in a briefing that "if anything, [Trump's] crime was loving too much, and possibly too young."

Johnson as Trump then took the podium to declare that he "barely knew" Epstein, "as evidenced by the thousands of pictures of us together, dancing and grinding our teeth at various parties, always leering and pointing at something just off camera − probably a book we're excited to read."

Melissa McCarthy during promos for "Saturday Night Live" on Dec. 2, 2025.

"SNL" is seven episodes into its 51st season, which kicked off in early October after a cast exodus over the summer hiatus. Prior to McCarthy, Bad Bunny, Amy Poehler, Sabrina Carpenter, Miles Teller and Nikki Glaser have served as hosts this season.

In ‘SNL’ sketch, Trump ignores travel chaos, 'the planes are gone'

Who's hosting 'SNL' next week?

"SNL" will be back for two consecutive weeks of episodes before the end of 2025.

On Dec. 13, Josh O'Connor, star of the third "Knives Out" mystery "Wake Up Dead Man," will take the stage and host with musical guest Lily Allen.

O'Connor's episode will be followed a week later by "Wicked: For Good" star Ariana Grande returning as host accompanied by Cher, who is serving as the "SNL" musical guest for the first time since 1987.

Contributing: Thao Nguyen and Zac Anderson

This article originally appeared on USA TODAY: 'SNL' cold open takes on Pete Hegseth over Venezuelan boat strikes

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