Saturday Night Live, SNL, spoofs Michael Cohen’s congressional hearing with Ben Stiller & Kenan Thompson drawing top jokes.
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Ben Stiller attends the 71st Annual Directors Guild Of America Awards.
When NBC’s Saturday Night Live tapped Ben Stiller to play Michael Cohen, former attorney and fixer for President Trump, at Cohen’s congressional hearing, the variety show left no joke unturned.
With Kenan Thompson playing representative Elijah Cummings at the hearing, SNL’s audience took to laughter in the humorous cold open.
First, here’s a primer on what happened in the real-life congressional hearing with Cohen:
Cohen uttered phrases about Trump like, “he’s a racist, he’s a conman, he’s a cheat,” and alleged that Trump knew about the WikiLeaks dump ahead of time. As reports noted, the real congressional hearing featuring Cohen himself was television enough.
But, leave it SNL to take things a step further with spoofs of the real thing:
1. Thompson’s character as Cummings asks the audience in the congressional hearing to stay professional and to not “ooh and ah” if they heard something outrageous. “This is not ‘Married with Children,’” he says.
2. Thompson’s Cummings also says, “I’m told I should tease this, because it’s all anybody cares about anymore: coming up a performance by Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez”…a nod to the young congresswoman’s popularity as #AOC.
Getty Kenan Thompson – Writers Guild Awards
3. “For any other president, this would be the most damning and humiliating moment of their lives, but for Trump, it’s just Wednesday,” Thompson’s Cummings continues.
4. “Cohen, you wrote this statement yourself,” Thompson’s Cummings asks Stiller’s Cohen. “Yes, but I had some help from the guys who wrote Green Book,” Stiller’s Cohen retorts.
5. “Ladies and gentlemen of the jury,” Stiller’s Cohen begins. “Not a court,” says Thompson. “Thank you for inviting me here today to correct the record under oath,” Stiller’s Cohen continues. “Last time I testified was also under oath, but this time, I like, really mean it.”
6. “I’m here today to tell you that Mr. Trump is a racist,” Stiller’s Cohen states. The audience is unfazed and silent. “Wow, I thought that would be a bigger reaction.” Stiller’s Cohen says.
7. Stiller’s Cohen then released a copy of the letter he was directed by Mr. Trump to use to threaten the latter’s high school, warning them not to release his SAT scores:
8. “In conclusion, I know that I was wrong,” Stiller’s Cohen says. “And I know it cos I got caught.”
9. “For too many years, I was loyal to a man when I should not have been,” he says. “Now I know how Kloe Kardashian feels.” (The SNL audience gasps and goes, “ooOoOhhh!”)
10. “And now I’m all out of faith,” Stiller’s Cohen says in conclusion. “This is how I feel; I’m cold and I am shamed, lying naked on the floor. Illusion never changed, into something real. I’m wide awake and I can see the perfect sky is torn.” The SNL audience laughs at this reference to Natalie Imbruglia’s “Torn” song.
