Updated with video clip No Alec Baldwin on Saturday Night Live tonight, so Beck Bennett’s shirtless Vladimir Putin crossed over to a starring role. And he got an assist in the show’s cold open from Kate McKinnon’s newly revived Russian peasant character Olya, making a surprise appearance wearing one of those pink knit hats worn by thousands of marchers today.
“Relax, I got this,” Beck’s thick-accented Putin sneered, directly addressing a nation under stress. (See a video clip below). “Putti going to make everything okay. I promise that we will take care of America. It’s the most expensive thing we ever bought.”
Marveling at the Women’s March on Washington, Beck’s Putin introduced McKinnon’s babushka-wearing Olya, a familiar Weekend Update character from seasons past. “Each day I wake up with big smile on my face,” she testified for Russia, then contorted her mouth into a scream.
Later in the skit, Olya reappears behind an unknowing Putin, her head scarf traded for the pink cat-eared hat nicknamed for Trump’s Access Hollywood vulgarity.
SNL also got in some jabs at Photogate, with Putin (pictured above in a recent episode) mocking those threadbare much-tweeted images of Trump’s inaugural crowd. He then chided Trump for being “a little bleak” on his first day. “And believe me I know bleak – I wake up everyday in Russia.”
Before take a swipe at Kellyanne Conway’s red white & blue Inauguration get-up (“Is she holding the door for people at FAO Schwartz?”), Beck’s Putin moved on to the skit’s pre-Live From New York kicker: “America, it’s going to be a long four years for many of you, but remember…we are in this together.”
Tonight’s episode is hosted by Aziz Ansari, with musical guest Big Sean.
