The Thanksgiving edition of Saturday Night Live‘s Weekend Update was jam-packed, with topics ranging from Kyle Rittenhouse’s acquittal of homicide charges and the climate crisis to a Baby Yoda float at the Macy’s Thanksgiving Day Parade.
Kicking off the segment by taking aim at Joe Biden’s colonoscopy, hosts Colin Jost and Michael Che quickly dove into the serious topic of the Rittenhouse verdict, which found him not guilty after killing two people during a police brutality protest. “Hopefully, he got all of that shooting out of his system before he becomes a cop,” Che deadpanned.
Later, Baby Yoda made a guest appearance to coincide with the announcement of getting its own float in the Thanksgiving Day Parade this year. “Ya boy. Is Back. What up, New York City?!” Kyle Mooney’s Yoda asked. “Bro, I’m getting paid $2 million to kick it with Pikachu, Ronald McDonald and the dude from Diary of a Wimpy Kid on live TV high as hell. Woohoo!”
During the skit, Che and Jost also tackled Dave Chappelle, Adele and Mel Gibson’s Lethal Weapon. To the latter Che replied: “If you wanna see a broken-down Black man team up with a handsome racist, just watch Weekend Update.”
Weekend Update concluded with an appearance by Mother Earth — “a normal mom who’s hot and pissed” — played by Aidy Bryant. Miffed by the UN Climate Change Conference, Bryant’s Mother Earth said: “I am not a hard ass. I mean you guys gotta admit, I’ve been a very cool mom. I let a lot of weird stuff slide, like I let you do Seaworld. I let you put mascara on rats and monkeys. But now I am worried. I think I’m like sick.”