SNL hasn’t been live for over a month, thanks to the holidays. But when they returned they made sure to tackle the biggest story to emerge since they went on break: the ever-escalating and often strange allegations made about George Santos. The newly sworn-in GOP lawmaker has been a frequent target of late night comedy, thanks to his propensity for embellishment and outright lies. He was a natural fit for the latest episode’s Cold Open, in which he made some glaring fibs about his athletic prowess.
The first SNL of 2023 began about a half hour after the divisional round game between the Philadelphia Eagles and the New York Giants. (The Eagles crushed it.) So it was only fitting that the latest Cold Open spoofed NFL on Fox. But most of the sketch’s real estate was dedicated to Santos jokes, with Bowen Yang playing the embattled fabulist, making one tall claim after another.
“I’m sort of the real Bo Jackson, and I’m proud to be first African American quarterback to ever dunk a football,” Yang’s Santos said.
The host asked him about claims that he was a drag queen in Brazil. “Well, I didn’t do drag in Brazil,” he replied. “I didn’t do drag in Brazil under the name Kitara Ravache! Whoever did that was very, very good at it and won many, many pageants.”
Yang’s Santos also laid out some of his alleged NFL stats, including “12 touchdowns,” “17 rebounds,” and “10 RBI.”
He returned later in the sketch, appearing in drag and claiming he was “Kitara Revache,” Santos’ alleged drag queen name. “Now allow me to give you my real stats: Death drops, 26. Duck walks, 19. Wigs snatched, infinity,” he boasted. “And I was also given the award for tightest tuck.”
You can watch the Cold Open in the video above.