In its latest cold open, Saturday Night Live took direct aim at MAGA officials, featuring sharp portrayals of figures like Pete Hegseth, Kash Patel, and Brett Kavanaugh. The sketch, set in a stylish bar in Washington D.C., brought a comedic edge to political commentary.
On May 9, Matt Damon made his return to the SNL stage, stepping into the role of Supreme Court Justice Brett Kavanaugh. The setting was a lively bar scene, where Damon’s Kavanaugh mingled amidst a crowd enjoying the night out.
The skit opened with Colin Jost, portraying Hegseth, expressing his relief at not encountering any familiar faces from the White House. “None of Trump’s people like drinking as much as I do,” Jost quipped, setting the comedic tone for the night.
As the scene unfolded, Kavanaugh, played by Damon, made a grand entrance into Martin’s Tavern, ordering six Bud Lights and three shots of Jameson. The bartender humorously noted it was a “6-3 decision,” a clever nod to the Supreme Court’s conservative majority.
Damon’s Kavanaugh then addressed Jost’s character, expressing his expectation of seeing him that evening. When asked why, Damon delivered a biting punchline: “I just saw all the women covering their drinks,” a reference to past controversies surrounding Kavanaugh.
Damon, playing Kavanaugh, said that he expected Jost to be in the bar that night – and when prompted to give an explanation as to why, the actor said: ‘I just saw all the women covering their drinks,’ alluding to potential drink spiking.
The Kavanaugh character then expressed that he ‘wished there were more people in this administration that could hang,’ at which point the Kash Patel caricature, played by Aziz Ansari, walks in and shouts, ‘does this bar take cash?!’
SNL quickly took a swipe at allegations that Patel has his own personally branded bourbon bottles. Ansari’s character held up a bottle on screen, and said: ‘I made my own FBI bourbon with my name on it.’
Colin Jost (playing Pete Hegseth), Matt Damon (playing Brett Kavanaugh) and Aziz Ansari (playing Kash Patel) laugh during the skit on SNL
Two of Trump’s most trusted officials, Kash Patel and Pete Hegseth, have been subject to allegations of excessive drinking – which they both have denied. But that did not stop SNL making jokes about it
Damon then revealed a secret to his drinking companions: ‘We’re gonna let Trump do a third term,’ to which Jost and Ansari screamed with excitement, as shots of brown liquor sat on the bar in front of them.
Jost then says that he thought it was unconstitutional, to which Damon admits that ‘it was,’ but that Trump found the original constitution and wrote at the end: ‘Sike!’
Kenan Thompson, playing the bartender, announced to the GOP trio that it was last calls – which triggered a sing-a-long to Chumbawamba’s ‘Tubthumping.’
Kavanaugh’s drinking habits have come under scrutiny in the past, after he gave testimony to the Senate Judiciary Committee in 2018 over his alcohol intake during his time as a Yale student.
He was accused by a former classmate at the time as drinking heavily and often becoming ‘belligerent and aggressive.’ Kavanaugh has denied drinking excessively.
Hegseth, Secretary of War, has similarly faced concerned questions over his alleged alcohol abuse, which arose from claims made by multiple former colleagues.
Trump’s team called the allegations ‘completely unfounded and false’ in 2024.
FBI director Patel is currently suing The Atlantic for allegations they published about his alleged excessive drinking. Patel has vehemently denied the claims.
Matt Damon, center, joined the team on May 9 and played the Republican Supreme Court justice Kavanaugh in a scene based around a swanky, booze-filled bar
Justice Brett Kavanaugh is pictured second from the right at Trump’s State of the Union this year
The reaction to SNL’s cold open was mixed – with some viewers saying that the show is consistently falling flat with their jokes.
One person wrote: ‘SNL cold open just isn’t funny. They have so much material but they cant do it.’
Another user responded: ‘It is if you’re not MAGA.’
While a third said: ‘SNL is so hit or miss man This is like the 4th or 5th skit i can remember where its just the celeb spitting their drink on people.
‘Not really funny in the slightest.’
Another viewer wrote on X: ‘SNL just made fun of Pete Hegseth, Brett Kavanaugh, and Kash Patel all at once and it is hilarious. MAGA is going to hate it.’
And a fifth said: ‘Wow, SNL made fun of Republicans. How daring.’
Others called out the seemingly repetitive nature of the MAGA skits: ‘Why does snl do a pete hegseth cold open every single week.’
