‘SNL’s Weekend Update Roasts Mitch McConnell After Announcing He Was Stepping Down As Senate Republican Leader

Michael Che and Colin Jost had a running gag on Saturday Night Live‘s “Weekend Update,” cracking jokes about Mitch McConnell after announcing he was stepping down as Senate Republican leader.

Every time the photo (above) of McConnell appeared on screen, the SNL stars made a joke about what had the Senator so happy during that moment. Che started the gag, saying McConnell was “catching up on news from the Middle East.”

“McConnell has been leader for almost 20 years, but he first got involved in politics back in 1968 when he lost a fiddle contest to the devil,” Che quipped.

Jost continued the gag saying, “Mitch McConnell seen here walking out of a theater after watching 12 Years A Slave.”

“He’ll be replaced by the current number two Republican in the Senate, a frozen embryo holding an assault rifle,” Jost joked.

A second joke had Jost saying McConnell was “seen here after rearranging a blind woman’s furniture.” Another photo appeared on screen with McConnell gleefully giving a thumbs up, which Jost said he was “watching a single mother sell her blood for diaper money.”

Later on in the “Weekend Update” segment, Jost brought that according to a study, Fremont, California is “the happiest city in America,” noting that the saddest city in America was Puppy Grave, Indiana.

“Which incidentally is the favorite vacation spot of Mitch McConnell,” Jost quipped.

It was on February 28 that McConnell took the Senate floor to announce he would end his tenure as leader.

“This will be my last term as Republican leader of the Senate. I’m not going anywhere anytime soon. I’ll complete my job my colleagues have given me to do until we select a new leader in November…I’ll finish my job the people of Kentucky hired me to do as well,” McConnell said during his speech.