‘SNL’ looks back on Pres. Joe Biden’s first year in office on its version of ‘The Ingraham Angle’

By Kelly McCleary, CNN

“Saturday Night Live” kicked off this week’s episode with a look back at President Joe Biden’s first year in office through the lens of Fox News host Laura Ingraham and her show, “The Ingraham Angle.”

Cast member Kate McKinnon embodied the conservative host, telling her audience of Biden’s term so far, “Can we all admit it’s a disaster?”

McKinnon’s Ingraham listed problems, like high inflation and gas prices before tossing to a heavily edited soundbite that makes it seem like White House Press Secretary Jen Psaki is saying, “We are not good people. The American public should vote us out.”

“First true thing she’s ever said,” McKinnon’s Ingraham said.

Sen. Ted Cruz then joins the program to “talk about how he’s pushing back against Biden’s tyranny,” Ingraham says while pointing out that Cruz is still sporting a beard.

Cruz, played by Aidy Bryant, responds, “My beard is like January 6. Shocking at first, but sadly, it’s been normalized.”

Bryant’s Cruz offers another apology for referring to January 6 rioters as “terrorists,” now describing them as “my cool friends.”

Before he signs off, Cruz offers advice to his Texas constituents: “February is going to be a cold one, so you might want to book your vacay to Cancun now.”

McKinnon’s Ingraham then takes a moment “to thank my few remaining loyal sponsors,” including a product called Covid Negs, “the Covid test that’s guaranteed to be negative, even if you have it.”

She then welcomes her next guest, tennis star Novak Djokovic, to talk about his recent deportation from Australia due to concerns the unvaccinated athlete could pose a risk to public health and order.

Djokovic, played by Pete Davidson, tells Ingraham, “You see, people love to tear you off your pedestal, you know, just because you’re really rich, or you’re the best at tennis, or you go to charity event with 200 kids even though you’re dripping with Covid.”

McKinnon’s Ingraham wraps with Djokovic by saying, “Thank you, Novak, see you at Wimbledon.”

“Probably not,” Davidson’s Djokovic quickly counters.

Ingraham’s next guest is conservative pundit Candace Owens, played by Ego Nwodim, who McKinnon’s Ingraham calls, “My one Black friend.”

Owns is there to address the voting rights bill, “which would make it easier for minorities to vote and harder for White people in Florida to vote twice,” Ingraham explains.

Nwodim’s Owens accuses liberals of making everything about race.

“To quote the only words that Martin Luther King ever said, ‘I have a dream.’ That’s it, end of quote,” Nwodim’s Owens says. “Nothing about money or jobs or schools, unless you count his tombstone, which says, ‘Great job, gang. Racism over.'”

Ingraham then welcomes her final guest of the evening for a preview of the 2024 Republican presidential primary, the “svelte, muscular 230-pound gorilla in the room, Donald Trump.”

“I’m back just like ‘Tiger King 2.’ You have fun the first time, and then you’re like, ‘How are more people from this not in jail yet?'” Trump, played by James Austin Johnson, says.

Trump then plays a game of Wordle, that somehow manages to connect vaccine boosters, John Mayer, Hilary Duff and her new show “How I Met your Father,” Jason Momoa and Prada.

McKinnon’s Ingraham then ends the cold open with the show’s signature, “Live, from New York, it’s Saturday Night!”

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