Avid Saturday Night Live viewers had a feeling they were in for something good when Kate McKinnon and Alex Moffat headlined this weekend’s cold open as Morning Joe co-hosts Mika Brzezinski and Joe Scarborough. Why? Because the celebrity pundit pair’s recently announced engagement, which triggered awkward on-air congratulations and news bits about Jared Kushner’s offer to marry them, was ripe for the taking. And sure enough, McKinnon and Moffat’s beautifully cringe-worthy chemistry didn’t disappoint. (The noticeable lack of Alec Baldwin’s Donald Trump impression, which has opened most of SNL this season, was also nice.)
Cue Morning Joe‘s opening on Monday, during which Mika and Joe introduced their upcoming segments while outright ignoring the SNL parody. Thankfully, MSNBC political analyst and up-until-that-point frequent show guest Mark Halperin decided to sneak in a few references to the bit. Brzezinski and Scarborough congratulated him for the finale of his Showtime series, The Circus, but Halperin quickly changed topics:
“More exciting for me was Saturday night. Did you not see? I was featured on Saturday Night Live in the cold open. You guys didn’t see that? Saturday night, I was on Saturday Night Live. Sunday I was on The Circus. Big weekend. I can’t believe you guys didn’t see that.”
As he spoke, Halperin’s fellow Morning Joe guests tried and failed to stifle their laughter. As for Mika and Joe, the co-hosts repeatedly congratulated him for the SNL appearance while feigning ignorance, claiming they hadn’t seen the bit. They even asked their crew to find a clip of the cold open so they could watch it later. “Oh my god,” Brzezinski quipped. “I can’t wait to see it!”
(Via Mediaite)