Will Ferrell Facilitates Reunion Between Trump and the Ghost of Epstein on ‘SNL’ Season 51 Finale
Paul McCartney was the night's musical guest.
Saturday Night Live closed out its 51st season on Saturday night, where Will Ferrell returned to host the long-running sketch comedy series.
Before his opening monologue, the You’re Cordially Invited actor appeared in the cold open alongside James Austin Johnson’s Trump, where he portrayed a ghostly Jeffrey Epstein.
Upon returning from his trip to China, the faux president opted to get some rest and took a nap “on this gold bar that Switzerland gave me as a straight-up bribe.” As he drifted off to sleep, a cloudy vision of none other than Epstein popped up, in ghost form.
“Don’t worry, Donald, it’s me, your best friend, Jeffrey Epstein,” he said. “Jeffrey, I thought you were dead,” Johnson’s Trump replied.
“I am, remember? I killed myself. Wink!” Ferrell’s Epstein added. The two began to catch up, as Trump asked Epstein how heaven was. “It’s really hot,” he revealed.
“You know me, I keep busy, mahjong every Wednesday with Stalin and John Wayne Gacy. That guy has stories,” Ferrell’s Epstein said. “What else? Oh, I just wrote for the Kevin Hart roast. Had some zingers in there.”
Trump gave him a run-down on his “fun summer plans,” which include this year’s “Patriot Games,” which will assemble a group of high school athletes from every state and territory.
“Well, you know, we’ve got the World Cup UFC fight on my lawn like I’m white trash on WorldStar, and we’re also doing the Patriot Games where high school athletes come from all over the country,” Johnson’s Trump said. “Bo-oi-oi-oi-oing,” Ferrell’s Epstein replied.
“We had some fun times together, didn’t we, Donny? We should have taken more pictures,” he added. “No, it’s really bad that we took any,” Johnson’s Trump asserted.
Ferrell’s Epstein then revealed that he could see into the future, and offered to show Trump what Kristi Noem (Ashley Padilla) would be up to in six months after being fired earlier this year. Turns out, she will be selling products on TV. He also offered a look into Pete Hegseth’s (Colin Jost) future, who was partying with Kash Patel, marking the third week in a row that Aziz Ansari joined the cold open to portray the director of the FBI.
Before Trump and Epstein parted ways once more, they performed a duet to the tune of Grover Washington Jr.’s “Just the Two of Us.” Ferrell’s Epstein left him with a distinct message: “Well, Donny, just remember, no matter how many wars you start or how bad you tank the economy as a distraction, people will always associate you with me. And that, my dear close friend, that is a beautiful thing.”
the ghost of Jeffrey Epstein pays Trump a visit pic.twitter.com/CjxMmIdYpT
Chad Smith of the Red Hot Chili Peppers crashed Ferrell’s monologue before the actor even had a chance to make it on stage. He began addressing the audience as if he were the Elf star himself.
“I’m thrilled to be back here at Saturday Night Live. I was a cast member here for seven years, and now I’m hosting for the sixth time,” Smith said. “It really feels like it really feels like coming home.”
Ferrell then joined Smith onstage, questioning “What the hell do you think you’re doing?”
“I think I’m hosting the show,” Smith replied, to which the actor rebutted, “You’re not the host, I am!” The pair looked strikingly similar, wearing almost identical suits with their hair styled similarly.
Ferrell appeared jokingly shaken up by the mistake, opting to “do what the host does when they don’t have any ideas. I’ll just take questions from the audience.” He then called upon “the cute one,” which just so happened to be Paul McCartney.
“What do you think you’re doing, Chad?” the former Beatles member said.
“No, Sir Paul McCartney, why don’t you come up here?” Ferrell said. “I understand your confusion, me and Chad do look a lot alike, but I’m Will. I’m hosting tonight.”
McCartney responded, “Nice try, Chad. Get back behind the drums where you belong.”
Will Ferrell’s monologue! pic.twitter.com/RL7wQjF9bv
To add to the episode’s star-studded cameos, Ferrell’s Superstar co-star Molly Shannon also popped up in a later sketch. During the final “Weekend Update” segment of season 51, Jost and Michael Che partook in their joke swap tradition, where they take turns saying jokes they each wrote for one another that they are not privy to.
Jost read a joke about Kanye West, noting, “Ye has released a new album called Bully, so please try to separate the art from the artist and remember that Ye can make awful music and still be right about Hitler.”
To add on to that bit, Che had Jost nearly shave his hair off on live television.
“Now, that joke is offensive to everybody, and I do apologize,” Jost said after the West joke. “I’d like to sacrifice the most important thing in my life, my beautiful, award-winning, world-famous hair. That’s right, I’m shaving it off. Send in the barber.”
A man then entered the stage with a pair of clippers, as Jost pronounced, “Jerome, make me unpretty.” Che stopped him before he was able to actually shave off any of Jost’s hair: “No, no, no! You were really going to do it? Man, you are the greatest comedian of all time.”
The six-time Emmy Award winner made his sixth hosting appearance with the season 51 finale. He, of course, used to be an SNL castmember from 1995-2002, and went on to make his debut as host in 2005. He has made a number of cameos on the show throughout the years, and also appeared in the SNL‘s 50th Anniversary Special in February of last year.
With Ferrell as host, McCartney joined as the finale’s musical guest. Just as the episode was nearing its end, and as the the Step Brothers actors thanked everyone for tuning in for SNL, McCartney performed an encore performance of “Coming Up” to close out season 51.
