Donald Trump

Murray, Armisen Return to ‘SNL' as Bannon, Wolff in Cold Open

Bill Murray slid off a Grim Reaper hood and declared the "Bannon dynasty is dawning"

The new year started with some old faces.

"Saturday Night Live" alumni Bill Murray and Fred Armisen returned to play Trump surrogate Steve Bannon and author Michael Wolff for the cold open in a spoof version of MSNBC's "Morning Joe."

Armisen played Wolff, author of "Fire and Fury: Inside the Trump White House," which the Trump administration has called "fiction" and "full of lies." Some have called out the real Wolff for factual errors in the book, which was released on Jan. 5. 

When questioned on the veracity of "Fire and Fury," Armisen's Wolff responded, "You got the gist, so shut up. You know, even the stuff that’s not true? It’s true."

After "Morning Joe" co-host Joe Scarborough (Alex Moffat) introduced Bannon, Murray slid off a Grim Reaper hood and declared the "Bannon dynasty is dawning."

The real Bannon stepped down at Breitbart News after explosive comments about President Donald Trump's children were published in Wolff's book. Trump was livid about the remarks in "Fire and Fury," sources told the Associated Press.  

When asked if he would re-enter politics, Murray's Bannon said, "I convinced this country to elect Donald and I can do it again."

"I am auditioning candidates: Logan Paul, Martin Shkreli, the Subway guy Jared Fogle -- he's back, he's electable," he said. "It's time for America to slide down the Bannon-ster."

As "Morning Joe" co-host Mika Brzezinski (Kate McKinnon) lamented there was no one who could save the country, Oprah Winfrey (Leslie Jones) called into the show to discuss a possible presidential run in 2020.

The real Winfrey sparked questions about a potential run after delivering a powerful speech at the 2018 Golden Globes, calling for "a brighter morning even in our darkest nights."

"I'm a celebrity so I'm qualified," she said. "There's only one job in the world more powerful than being president -- being Oprah." 

Colin Jost and Michael Che kicked off "Weekend Update" with President Donald Trump's controversial remark about immigration.

"The most insane thing is that Trump said all of this racist stuff right before Martin Luther King Day, which is like pounding a case of beer on your way to rehab," Jost said about Trump referring to Haiti and African nations as "s--thole countries." 

"Here's the thing, my job is to make jokes about the news. Trump saying something racist isn’t exactly news anymore," Che said. "It’d be news if Trump said, 'You know what we need more of in this country? Haitians.'"

The segment also touched on the Wall Street Journal report that Trump allegedly paid a porn star, nicknamed "Stormy Daniels," $130,000 to keep her from speaking about a sexual encounter with him.

"So at least there’s one storm Trump will pay for," Jost deadpanned as an image of the Puerto Rican flag and island appeared on the screen.

On the subject of a potential Winfrey presidential run in 2020, Che lamented, "Can't we just have a regular one for a while?"

"I'm tired of all these fun ideas for president," he said. "I miss boring politics. I miss when people would ask me, 'Hey, did you hear what the president said?' and I'd be like, 'No.'"

Then Jones' Winfrey and her longtime beau Stedman Graham (Chris Redd), joined "Weekend Update" to talk about a potential campaign. 

Actor Sam Rockwell was the host and used his opening monologue to sing and dance about being the show's leading man, mocking how he is usually "not the main guy, but the other guy.”

Musical guest Halsey performed two songs, "Bad at Love" and "You and I" with G-Eazy.

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