Former Saturday Night Live cast member Bill Hader made a cameo appearance during the cold open of this weekends show, taking on the role of irate Republican Congressman Jim Jordan.
Hader launched into a frustrated version of Jordan, who fumed that he was so angry that he couldn’t even wear a jacket to the hearing.
But it apparently worked to the advantage of other congressional members, including Kate McKinnon as Rep. Debbie Wasserman Schultz, who would yield their time back to Hader’s Jordan so he could dig himself deeper.
“Good afternoon, Mr. Chairman,” Hader’s Jordan said. “And good afternoon to you, you lying piece of human trash!”
He added, “Mr. Chairman, you’re right that I’m angry. I’m angry that I have to sit here through this two-bit dirtbag flea circus. I’m so angry I couldn’t even wear a jacket today!”
When Jordan asked Michael Cohen, played by Ben Stiller, “what other criminals and lowlifes” he’s worked for, Cohen shot back, “I was the deputy finance chairman for the Republican Party, sir.”
He also added that he had never even heard of Cohen, to which Stiller’s Cohen replied: “Your mother has.”
“Mr. Cohen, why are we supposed to believe you now?” Jordan asked him. “I mean, you lied about Trump being a good guy. You lied about Trump not committing any crimes. You lied about Trump not—damnit, I’m doing it again!”
Watch the segment here:
Stiller reprised his guest role as Trump’s former lawyer and fixer, which parodied Cohen’s testimony to the House Committee on Oversight and Reform that happened this week.
“For any other President, this hearing would be the most humiliating and damning day of their lives,” Kenan Thompson said as Chairman Elijah Cummings. “For Trump, it’s just Wednesday.”
Ahead of speaking, Thompson’s Cummings asked Stiller’s Cohen if he wrote his testimony himself, to which Stiller’s Cohen quipped: “Yes, but I had some help from the guys that wrote Green Book.”
Green Book recently won an Oscar for best picture, despite facing controversy.
“Thank you for inviting me here today to correct the record under oath,” Stiller’s Cohen said, before adding, “The first time was under oath but this time I mean it.”
Throughout the mock testimony, Stiller referred to Trump using the same descriptions Cohen mentioned in his prepared testimony to Congress including a “racist,” a “con man” and a “cheat.”
When Stiller claimed Trump was a “racist,” he paused awaiting a reaction.
When the audience was silent, Stiller’s Cohen said, “Wow. I thought that would get a bigger reaction.”
Stiller’s Cohen also poked fun at Khloe Kardashian amid the Tristan Thompson cheating scandal and recited lyrics from Natalie Imbruglia’s “Torn” to describe how he was feeling.
And, of course, the now infamous moment when Rep. Mark Meadows brought Trump associate and HUD official Lynne Patton to the hearing got a brief SNL treatment.
SNL’s Meadow notes he couldn’t help but hear “Mr. Cohen call the president a racist.”
He then says, “I brought with me a black woman and she works for Trump, don’t you? Uh-huh. Her name is Omarosa.”
The clearly uncomfortable SNL version of Patton notes she is not Omarosa and asks to leave.
The cold open sketch ended with a heartfelt speech from Stiller’s Cohen: “Look, maybe I’m not a good person. Maybe I’m a liar. Maybe I’m a fool. Maybe I ruined hundreds of people’s lives.”
“I’m sorry, is there a ‘but’ coming?” Cummings asked.
“No, there isn’t, thank you,” he replied. “And live from New York, it’s Saturday night!”