Alec Baldwin may not have appeared as Donald Trump on this week’s “SNL” cold open, but that doesn’t mean the show skimped on the guest stars. As we all expected, “SNL” opened with a bit about Roger Stone being indicted. What we probably did not expect was that Stone would be played by “SNL” five-timer (and then some) Steve Martin.
The framing for the sketch was an episode of Tucker Carlson’s show on Fox News, with Carlson played by cast member Alex Moffat. Before Martin popped up as Stone, there was an pair of other guests, like Cecily Strong as “Judge” Jeannine Pirro and Kate McKinnon as Wilbur Ross.
Each of them had choice lines, like Strong’s Judge Jeannine suggesting a “Marie Kondo approach to cleaning up this country.”
“You know what doesn’t spark joy in me? Guatemalans,” Pirro said.
McKinnon’s turn as a rather sedated Ross was also amusing, playing up his comment from this week about how he didn’t understand why government employees working without pay during the shutdown would be a serious hardship.
“They could have liquidated some of their stocks or sold one of their lesser paintings,” McKinnon’s Ross said, noting that selling one of their Picassos would “get them through a week of yacht maintenance” and that they could save money by temporarily sending their horses to public school instead of private.
And then Martin stole the show as Roger Stone, come out rather elated by the week’s events.
“What a fun couple of days. I’m loving the ride. Go Nixon!” Martin’s Stone opened. “Seven felonies! I can’t even count that high! How cool is that?”
But it wasn’t all sunshine and rainbows.
“I’m broke from my legal battles, and now no one will buy my books,” Martin said. When asked by Carlson why book sales were not going well, Martin replied emphatically: “Because they’re bad!”
Later, Martin replied to something Moffat’s Carlson said by saying “Pardon me?” When Carlson tried to repeat himself, Martin’s Stone replied by noting he was actually making a plea to Donald Trump, who he knew would be watching, for a presidential pardon.