'SNL': Jake Gyllenhaal sings Boyz II Men as Colin Jost, Michael Che swap offensive jokes
"Saturday Night Live" looked ahead to a historic season in a slightly less historic season finale.
Jake Gyllenhaal hosted "SNL" Season 49 this weekend, the last episode before the show kicks off its 50th season in the fall. "When you think of historic television seasons, the first number that pops into your head is 49," the "Road House" actor quipped. "Sure, one more episode and I would have been hosting the premiere of the 50th season, but who cares?"
In his monologue, Gyllenhaal proceeded to sing farewell to the season to the tune of Boyz II Men's "End of the Road," joking in between the lyrics that "a lot of people" said no to this weekend's hosting gig because they're "holding out" for the 50th season.
"They asked Pedro Pascal but he wasn't around," he sang. "Zendaya said no 'cause she'd be out of town, even asked (Ryan) Gosling to come back again, just hosted three shows ago." "SNL" cast members soon joined the actor onstage, with Kenan Thompson singing that "we did a lot of sketches this year, and most of them were fine."
In the cold open, James Austin Johnson's Donald Trump delivered a free-flowing speech outside of the Manhattan courthouse, where his hush money trial has been taking place.
"Unfortunately, at the end of this trial, it looks like I'm getting a very harsh sentence and being sent to a horrible place I do not want to go to: the White House," he said.
Colin Jost and Michael Che make each other read brutal jokes about Scarlett Johansson, Kendrick Lamar
During "Weekend Update," Colin Jost and Michael Che continued their season finale tradition of making each other deliver jokes that the other person has never seen before, which tend to be horribly offensive and reflect poorly on the comedian reading them.
Che made Jost read jokes in support of Harvey Weinstein ? "The only chant you'll hear from me is 'Free Weinstein,'" he declared ? and dissing his own wife, Scarlett Johansson.
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"ChatGPT has released a new voice assistant feature inspired by Scarlett Johansson's AI character in 'Her,' which I've never bothered to watch because without that body, what's the point of listening?" Jost read.
Jost, meanwhile, forced Che to read jokes that made it sound like he sends inappropriate texts to kids and assaults women. Che was also given a joke insulting Kendrick Lamar, egging on the rapper to make a diss track about him amid his feud with Drake.
"Your war with Drake may be over, but your war with Michael Che is just beginning," Che read.
Che also brought out a woman he claimed was an "actual practicing rabbi" so Jost would have to read offensive jokes about Jewish people in front of her, including asking, "If you're here, who's controlling the weather?"
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Sabrina Carpenter plays Daphne in bloody 'Scooby-Doo' sketch
Musical guest Sabrina Carpenter may not have been hosting, but she still jumped in to star as Daphne in a hilariously bloody Scooby-Doo parody.
In the sketch, Gyllenhaal played Fred as the mystery gang rips the mask off a perpetrator, only for Fred to incorrectly think he's wearing another mask and rip off his entire face instead. Things get even more gruesome as Scooby-Doo chews on the face, Shaggy loses an arm and Velma is beheaded.
"SNL" will return later in 2024 for its 50th season, and a 50th anniversary primetime special is set to air on Feb. 16, 2025.
This article originally appeared on USA TODAY: SNL finale: Jake Gyllenhaal sings, Colin Jost, Michael Che swap jokes
