by Saturday Night Live legend Tina Fey returned to the long-running sketch on October 11th to parody Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem.
Fey began her career at Saturday Night Live in 1997 as a writer, before being promoted to head writer two years later, and becoming an on-screen staple in 2000 as the host of Weekend Update. She left in 2006 to create 30 Rock, which parodied her time on the sketch show.
Since exiting Saturday Night Live, Fey has returned to the show on numerous occasions, and parodied Republican politician Sarah Palin for many years, as well as hosting the show six times. Now, she has a new character to get her teeth into.
During the episode’s cold open, which was hosted by Fey’s former Weekend Update co-presenter Amy Poehler, the comedic duo reunited to play Pam Bondi and Noem.
After Poehler delivered a hilarious skit as US Attorney General, Bondi, Fey made her grand entrance as Noem with a firearm. She said as her opening line, That’s right, it’s me, Kristi. I spell my name with an ‘I’ because that’s how I thought it was spelled.”
Fey’s version of Noem then discussed the recruitment process for the ongoing ICE raids, saying, “How did I find them? By running ads like this: Do you need a job now? Yeah. Are you a big tough guy? Yeah. Tough enough for the army or police? No. Do you take supplements that you bought at a gas station? Daily. Do you like to use zip ties because people in your life don’t trust you with keys? You know it. Suck on some of these big boy. Welcome to ICE.”
Meanwhile, elsewhere during the cold open, Poehler poked fun at the new AI-actor Tilly Norwood, who was recently unveiled at Zurich Film Festival, stating, “I remember watching the show in the ’70s, sitting in my house in Burlington, Massachusetts thinking, ‘I wanna be an actress someday, at least until they invent an AI actress who’s funnier and willing to do full frontal’.”
Role Model served as the musical guest for the episode and was joined by Charli XCX for his rendition of ‘Sally, When the Wine Runs Out’.
Saturday Night Live returns on October 18th with Sabrina Carpenter scheduled to perform double duty as host and musical guest.
