SNL takes on the impeachment trial and goes to hell, literally

The first show of the year for “Saturday Night Live” went to hell, literally. The comedic version was imagined as a place where a member of President Donald Trump’s impeachment defense team, lawyer Alan Dershowitz, is welcomed as a hero.

Dershowitz, played by former SNL cast member Jon Lovitz, first appears quite content, sitting in the Senate alongside U.S. Sen. Susan Collins, R-Maine, and the body’s majority leader, Sen. Mitch McConnell, R-Kentucky.

“It’s wonderful to be here because I’m not welcome anywhere else,” he says.

But the Harvard-affiliated legal scholar, known for having represented O.J. Simpson and convicted sex offender Jeffrey Epstein, quickly experiences an apparent heart attack that sends him to hell, where the devil, portrayed by Kate McKinnon, says, “I’m a huge fan.”

“I’m going to send you back upstairs in a minute,” she says. “I just wanted to meet you.”

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The devil records the encounter for her podcast, a medium she says she invented. Sponsors, she says, include “MyPillow ― not the pillow, the guy.”

Epstein, played by the night’s host, Adam Driver, also makes an appearance. He praises Dershowitz for what he’s seen on television. “All we get down here is Fox News,” he says.

Also in hell are Flo from Progressive auto insurance, the man who wrote the song “Baby Shark,” and Mr. Peanut. Avid Trump defender McConnell, played by Beck Bennett, is also apparently a frequent visitor.

“I just come down and use it as a sauna,” he says.

Facebook founder Mark Zuckerberg makes an entrance when the devil calls for hell’s ‘IT guy.’ “I want everyone to know that I don’t endorse evil. I just help millions of people share it,” he says.

Later, news segment “Weekend Update” continued to dissect Trump’s impeachment trial in the U.S. Senate, where U.S. Rep. Adam Schiff, D-California, dominated the Democrats’ opening arguments.

“Am I crazy or was Adam Schiff on my television for a hundred hours straight,” co-host Colin Jost said.

The segment focused on the preponderance of evidence against the president, who asked Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskiy to investigate political rival Joe Biden and his son, Hunter Biden, as the White House withheld much needed military aid.

“Republicans laid out their defense, the shrug emoji,” Jost said, noting that some senators were seen during opening arguments playing with fidget spinners. “I assume this symbolized how the founding fathers are spinning in their graves,” he added.

Fellow host Michael Che said Trump is so confident he won’t be removed by the Senate that he’s using Epstein’s lawyer to aid in his defense: “Who’s his character witness? R. Kelly?”

Che wondered what it would take to get the president out of office.

“You’re telling me the United States government can’t figure how to remove a crazy dictator?” he said. “We’ve been practicing all over the world for like a hundred years.”

source: nbcnews.com