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This article originally appeared on 08.20.19

I occasionally get asked by mothers of young children what the secret is to raising great teenagers.

My initial response is that I have absolutely no clue. My kids are who they are IN SPITE of having me as a mother. (The young moms don’t find that answer too helpful.)

Really, the first thing that I will tell you is to disbelieve the myth that teenagers are sullen, angry creatures who slam doors and hate their parents. Some do that, but the overwhelming majority do not. Every one of my kids’ friends are just as happy and fun as my kids are, so I know it’s not just us.

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Teenagers are incredible. They are funny, smart, eager to please, and up for just about anything as long as food is involved. They have the most generous hearts and want desperately to be loved and validated. They are quirky and messy and have the best sense of humor.

So, here is my list of “rules” for raising teens. These are the secrets we have found to be successful.

1. Love them fiercely.

Love everything about them, even the annoying stuff. Love them for their actions AND their intentions. Let them know in word and deed how much you adore them. Daily. Love their wrinkled shirts and Axe-body-spray-covered selves. Love their bad handwriting and pimpled cheeks. Love their scattered brains and long limbs. All these seemingly insignificant details are an amazing, magical process at work. It’s like being witness to the miracle of a diamond mid-formation. All this imperfection is going to one day yield a responsible, serious adult. A loving husband and father. Or a wonderful wife and mother. It’s a privilege to be witness to such glorious growth.

See your teenagers as a privilege, don’t see them as a burden. They’re more perceptive than you can imagine. How you feel about them will be no secret. So just love ‘em.

2. Listen and pay attention.

When they walk in the door after school, you have a precious few minutes when they will divulge the secrets of their day with you. Be excited to see them. Put down the cell phone. Don’t waste this time making dinner or taking a phone call. Look them in the eye and hear what they are saying. Make their victories your victories. Be empathetic. It is really hard to navigate high school and middle school. Don’t offer advice at this time unless they ask for it. Don’t lecture. Just listen. It makes them feel important and valued. We all need to feel that way.

3. Say yes more than you say no.

The world is forever going to tell them no. For the rest of their lives, they will be swimming in a stormy sea with wave after wave of “you’re not good enough” and “you can’t do this” crashing down on their heads. If nothing else, I want to be the opposite voice in their lives for as long as I can. I want to instill in them the belief that they are not limited and they can do anything if they’re willing to work hard enough for it. I want to be the YES, YOU CAN in their lives. I want them to leave my house every day feeling invincible.

4. Say no often.

You need to say no to experiences and situations that will set your child up for harm or unhappiness. Don’t let them go to the parties where they will be forced to make a choice about alcohol at age 16 in front of their peers . Don’t let them stay out until three in the morning with a member of the opposite sex. Be the parent. Set up rules for their safety, both physical and moral. You would think this rule goes without saying, but we have known a shockingly large number of parents who don’t.

5. Feed them. A lot.

And not only them, but their friends too. These bodies are growing and developing at an astonishing rate and need fuel to do so — most of which they prefer to be loaded with processed sugar and hydrogenated-something-or-others. When their friends know your pantry is stocked to the gills with treats, they will beg your kid to hang out at your place. This allows you to not only meet and know their friends, but to keep an eye on your teen as well.

6. Don’t sweat the small stuff.

When living with teenagers, it can be so easy to see the backpack dropped in the middle of the living room as laziness. Or the bedroom scattered with dirty clothes as irresponsible. Instead, and before you open your mouth to yell at them, put yourself in their shoes. Find out about their day first. Maybe they are feeling beaten down, and they just need to unwind for a minute and tell you about it. Ignore the mess for a bit and put your arms around that big, sweaty kid and give him a hug. Talk to him about his world. Find out what he did, wants to do, and dreams of doing. THEN, and only then, ask him to pick it up and put it away.

That being said, do I completely ignore the state of my boys’ bedrooms all the time? No, I do not. But I pick my battles, and I pick the appropriate time to fight them. Once every seven to 10 days or so, I tell them their bedrooms need to be picked up. Which they do happily because it’s not the running loop of a nagging mom. They know when I ask, it needs to be done.

7. Stand back and watch the magic happen.

If you let them, these glorious creatures will open their hearts and love you more fiercely than you could possibly imagine. They are brilliant, capable, strong spirits who bring with them a flurry of happiness. They are hilarious and clever. They are thoughtful and sensitive. They want us to adore them. They need us to adore them. They love deeply and are keenly in touch with the feelings of others.

They are just about the greatest gift God gave to parents.

The Phoenix Suns and Memphis Grizzlies have been two teams going in opposite directions of late, with Memphis ascending to second in the West, while Phoenix has fallen all the way to 10th in the standings.

That recent form didn’t matter much on Sunday in Phoenix, as the Suns jumped out to a 25-point lead at the half on the Grizzlies, putting Memphis’ resiliency to the test. The Grizzlies would chip away and make it a game late, and got an unexpected boost to close the third quarter from Ziaire Williams, who took a rebound and threw up an 80-foot buzzer-beater that banked in to cut the deficit to 15 going into the fourth.

We’ve seen some impressive shots this year in the NBA, and while luck certainly plays a role in banking one in from the opposite restricted area, this has a strong case for the craziest shot of the season. These accounted for three of the 16 points Williams gave Memphis off the bench, as they tried to rally in the second half for a stunning comeback that fell just short, cutting the lead to as few as two in the final seconds, but they did show their fight even in a game they could’ve easily punted on at the half after falling down big.

On the other side, it’s a big win for a banged up Phoenix team, as they pick up a third straight win to get back to .500, as Chris Paul’s return provided some much needed playmaking, as he had 22 points and 11 assists in the win.

[This post contains spoilers for The Last of Us episode two, “Infected”]

The second episode of The Last of Us has multiple firsts for the HBO show. “Infected” (directed by Neil Druckmann and written by Craig Mazin) is the first time Ellie leaves the quarantine zone; it’s also our first look at the Clickers, who are blind but highly sensitive to sound. They’re disgusting, but the biggest first in the episode is the most disgusting.

In the final minutes of “Infected” (read our recap), Tess reveals that she’s been bitten by an infected. She’s not immune like Ellie, so it’s only a matter of time before she turns. Tess sacrifices herself to save Joel and Ellie so they can continue heading west, but before she can ignite her lighter, detonating the building and its fungal infected inhabitants, she’s the unwilling recipient of the grossest kiss on TV since Chainsaw Man.

OK, it’s not technically a “kiss” so much as one infected spreading to another infected. Still: not ideal. But I’d still rather make out with someone with fungal tendrils (great band name) coming out of their mouth than eat an actual mushroom. Yuck. Anyway, if Tess is actually dead, which is likely considering, y’know, kaboom, let’s give it up for Anna Torv. The Mindhunter actress made an enduring impression in only two episodes — and one nasty kiss.

For more on “Infected,” learn how the virus started.

Each week, we’ll recap the biggest moments of HBO’s The Last of Us before placing bets on the odds of survival for our favorite characters – like the sick, twisted, soulless monsters we are.

The Last of Us follows up its slow-burn season premiere with a backpacking how-to through fungal-infected Boston that will absolutely not be making any travel bucket lists when the inevitable apocalypse strikes. In episode two’s “Infected,” Tess, Ellie, and Joel establish a tentative truce before they make their way to the Massachusetts State House where the Fireflies should be waiting to ferry “humanity’s cure” out West, but this is an HBO drama adapted from a best-selling video game that has made grown men cry so things just aren’t going to be that easy.

A couple of close calls, some, err … bonding time for Bella Ramsey and Pedro Pascal, and a heartbreaking sacrifice are the highlights of episode two as a shocking ending throws our Survival Odds watch into pure chaos. Let’s get into it.

Early Outbreak Bombshells

Something both the game and the series does incredibly well is its science. We can’t say for sure that the Cordyceps Brain Infection could ever really cause a massive pandemic that eradicates mankind, but the use of flashbacks so far goes a long way in convincing us that humanity is just one bad box of pancake mix away from total annihilation. “Infected” launches with a look at the situation in Jakarta, back when the Cordyceps strand had yet to really permeate on a global scale. A scientist is rudely kidnapped in the middle of her lunch break to weigh in on a sample of fungus taken from a human specimen, a factory worker who went berserk and started biting her fellow employees. She meticulously studies her corpse, slicing into fungi-invaded flesh and prying tentacles from the victim’s jaw before realizing what we all now know: this sh*t is gross as hell and it’s going to be the hottest extinction event on the planet pretty soon. There’s no cure, no vaccine, and after breaking that news to the uniformed simpleton responsible for cluing her into this devastating future, she calmly sets down her cup of tea, tells him to bomb the city (with everyone in it), and asks for someone to give her a damn ride home.

If she’s going to face the end of the world, she’s going to do it in her comfiest PJs with her housecat and a bottle of red by her side.

Flash-forward to the now, as a sleeping Ellie wakes to find both Tess and Joel creepily guarding her in an abandoned building outside the QZ. They’re still wary she might turn and trying to convince them that she’s the only person on this godforsaken rock that’s immune to the infection is becoming exhausting. Eventually, she has to clue them into Marlene’s plan – one Joel seems unimpressed with considering rumors of a “cure” have apparently been floating for some time without ever landing on solid ground. But Tess, as we’re quickly discovering is her way, sees through the bullsh*t.

It doesn’t matter if Ellie is humanity’s last hope or not, the Fireflies believe she is and they need what the group has promised. One kid for a car battery and ammo is a hell of a good trade in postapocalyptic times so the group soldiers on, taking the freeway into the city as Tess and Ellie bond over their shared recklessness and Joel grudgingly follows behind.

Pedro Pascal is in full “annoyed babysitter mode” and it’s a good look for him.

Boston, Who Hurt You?

We hope to God that Ben Affleck didn’t survive the fungal outbreak because he’d be weeping into his Dunkin Donuts coffee over the state of his hometown. Ellie though? She’s mesmerized by the big buildings – that are leaning precariously into one another and overgrown with weeds – the deserted streets – covered in fungal pathways that might awaken a horde at any moment – and pavement craters a mile wide – evidence that at one point, our government’s best idea for how to beat CBI was to just drop bombs in every major city across America and hope for the best.

There are two ways to the State House, the long way or the way where someone ends up dead. The trio’s not stupid enough to try that path first but the foreshadowing here is about as subtle as Colin Farrell’s attempt to flirt with Ana De Armas at this year’s Golden Globes. Choosing the long way means breaking into a once-upscale hotel to get a birds-eye-view of their trek before they get caught by a pack of Infected and it’s during this watery interlude we learn more about Ellie … and Joel, and Tess, but mainly Ellie. She’s a kid that’s grown up in the QZ, educated by FEDRA on life before and after the outbreak. She can’t swim, but she does know where Detroit is assholes. She’s got a wicked sense of humor that Joel quickly labels “weird” and a knack for pissing her babysitter off. The two try to bond while Tess looks for a way through the rubble but the conversation goes nowhere fast. Joel is grumpy and closed-off, still unsure if he’ll have to put a bullet in this girl’s head. Ellie is curious but guarded, she wants to know more about her current guardian – and life in general because she hasn’t done much living up until this point – but she knows that appearing too eager, too naïve is a vulnerability she can’t afford. She keeps things close to the chest but gets frustrated when Joel does the same and dammit if this prickly little pair doesn’t warm our hearts a bit. They’re both lost souls looking for some kind of meaning, some kind of purpose in life and they’ll probably find it in each other, but not before facing some monstrous setbacks.

Speaking of …

Mayhem in the Museum

The safe route to the State House has been overrun by Infected so Tess, Joel, and Ellie are forced to take a shortcut through the museum. It’s covered in dried-out fungal strands which leads the group to believe it’s safe. Naturally, assumptions can get you killed on this show, and even though the build-up to our first post-outbreak Infected run-in is fairly straightforward, it’s still terrifying. It’s still not clear how these beings work since their brains aren’t necessarily dead, just controlled by a fungus infection, but it seems like they hunt by sound, not sight. The group’s flashlights do nothing to alert the creatures, but one misstep, the crunch of a human hand being stepped on, has them losing their minds. While Tess and Joel fight off two Infected, Ellie scrambles to find a place to hide. Bullets fly, hatchets are wielded, and eventually, our smugglers are able to deliver fatal blows to the head, which may not be the only way to kill one of these things but it sure is the fastest and most effective method of zombie disposal.

Tess walks away with a bum ankle, Ellie with another bite, but the group makes it to the State House relatively unscathed. Or, so we thought.

Save Who You Can

Despite large armored trucks and a huge weapons cache, all of the Fireflies hold up within the building are dead, not from FEDRA or raiders but because one of their own became infected and mass panic ensued. Joel wants to turn back, go home to the QZ and let FEDRA decide what to do with Ellie. An increasingly irritated Tess is adamantly against that notion and Ellie soon figures out why. She’s been infected by one of the creatures they fought off at the museum. While her bite spreads rapidly, Ellie’s just leaks a bit of blood, a clear contrast that proves to Tess at least that Ellie is the real deal. She pleads with Joel to take her to someone named Frank, to ferry her to safety as penance for all their committed sins and it’s the kind of heartbreaking, self-sacrificing monologue that’s all the more tragic because we know it will be Anna Torv’s last on this show. We get that a zombie apocalypse needs stakes, but what a waste to only use Torv’s talents for two episodes.

Still, she makes an impression, on us and on Joel, who agrees to her dying wish, dragging Ellie kicking and screaming out the back while Tess douses the lobby in gasoline and grenades, setting a trap for the hordes of Infected who’ve been alerted to their whereabouts thanks to those dead Fireflies. The final shot of Tess silently struggling to get her lighter to work as mindless bodies flood through the building, with one targeting her by slowly reaching his tentacles inside her gaping mouth, is disturbing and devastating in equal measure. It’s a nasty way to go, but at least it’s one Tess got to choose, which is more than most survivors of this apocalypse will be able to say.

Survival Odds

Joel (10 to 1)
We’d say anyone who hitches their wagon to a smart-mouthed teenager pegged as humanity’s only hope is bound for the grave but Joel is ruthless in his ability to cut personal ties, ignore emotional attachments, and save himself in precarious situations. Just lending a helping hand to Ellie in this episode gives him the heebie-jeebies and with Tess gone, he’s even less likely to stick his neck out for the girl. At this point, she’s not a stand-in for Sarah by any means. Sarah was sweet and caring whereas Ellie is fearless and bloodthirsty. She’s more like Joel than he’d probably like to admit, which serves as yet another reason why he needs to get rid of her, and fast.

Ellie (5 to 2 odds)
No, Ellie won’t die from infection, but damn if this girl isn’t trying to get herself killed in every other way imaginable. It’s one thing to go out into the post-apocalyptic world with no house training, it’s another thing to call attention to yourself by dinging hotel lobby bells and heavy-footing your way through fungus-infected museums and breathing like an asthmatic without her inhaler while hiding from creatures intent on killing you. Do better or get the hell away from Pedro Pascal because we refuse to watch him die on yet another HBO drama series.

HBO’s The Last of Us has given fans a terrifying new possibility when it comes to world-ending events. Forget zombie outbreaks and viral pandemics, the most devastating destroyer comes might come in the form of a fungus that infects human brains and turns bodies into flesh-covered puppets.

The Cordyceps strain is an actual breed of fungi that does exactly what the ominous-sounding doctor describes in the show’s season premiere. That first episode of The Last of Us gave us a 60s-era talk-show primer to how the Cordyceps Brain Infection could happen — by fungus mutating to survive rising temperatures caused by climate change. While it’s a bit more complicated than that in real life, on the show, it quickly becomes a horrifying reality.

And, thanks to episode two’s “Infected,” we now know exactly how the infection started.

Jakarta, Indonesia

In the premiere episode, the show teased the origins of the infection — which technically isn’t a virus since it’s fungal in nature — early on. As Sarah, Joel, and Tommy were having breakfast, sans pancakes since Joel forgot to buy a box mix, a radio report was detailing chaos in the city. The blink-and-you’ll-miss-it moment was primarily a chance for Sarah to school the adults on their less-than-stellar geography knowledge but it also teased how the pandemic had already taken root overseas.

When episode two opens, creators Craig Mazin and Neil Druckmann dive further into the mythology of their imagined apocalypse. We meet an elderly woman having lunch in a cafe before she’s picked up by government officials and taken to a lab. She’s a scientist, a renowned one thanks to her work with different types of fungal infections, and she’s presented a slide that shows the Cordyceps strain infecting human cells. Naturally, she’s a bit skeptical because fungus can’t survive in temperatures as high as our natural operating ones. But Cordyceps has evolved and she quickly discovers just how disastrous that mutation is for mankind when she examines the corpse of a woman infected with the fungus.

Fungi Beginnings

After splitting open the bit site on the woman’s leg only to find fungal spores have built a nest underneath her skin. She then goes to pry living tentacles out of the victim’s mouth, ones that move as if in search of a new host to latch onto. It’s all disgusting, blood-curling stuff, but it gets worse when the doctor is asked for her help in creating a cure, or a preventative to fight the spread. Because it has spread.

The woman on the morgue table was just one of many workers in the city’s biggest flour mill that were bitten. According to the authorities, a woman came to work, began acting erratically, bit four co-workers, and had to be put down by police. When the people she bit started exhibiting symptoms, they too were executed, but one might have gotten away before the military’s quarantine efforts could bear fruit. After that incident, 14 more workers were unaccounted for, causing officials to suspect they too had been infected somehow.

Unfortunately for Jakarta, which now seems like ground zero of the CBI pandemic, the doctor gives a grim prognosis. There’s no cure, no vaccine for a fungal infection like this. Their best chance? To bomb the city and everyone in it. We now know those explosive containment protocols were too little too late, but it’s a chilling scene made all the more tragic because, unlike in the video games, the show dedicated plenty of time to let it play out.

The Cowboys and 49ers played in what can only be generously described as a defensive struggle on Sunday night, as neither team produced much in the way of explosive plays, but it was the Niners that were able to make fewer offensive mistakes, as Brock Purdy did just enough to help out his stellar defense in a 19-12 win to punch a ticket to the NFC title game against Philly.

The same could not be said for Dak Prescott, who, a week removed from arguably his best game as a pro, struggled mightily with just 206 yards on 23-of-37 passing with one touchdown and a pair of brutal interceptions. The final Cowboys drive served as a microcosm of their game, as poor decision-making and execution collided to send them out of the playoffs with a whimper.

The series started with Prescott almost taking a safety and then almost throwing a pick on the first play, which really set the tone for the last gasp effort at a game-winning or tying drive. From there, Dalton Schultz, who likewise starred a week ago, didn’t get out of bounds going forward, allowing the clock to wind, and then failed to get a second foot down on a catch with five seconds left that would’ve put them on the edge of Hail Mary range. At that point, the Cowboys needed a miracle, and the play Mike McCarthy and Kellen Moore dialed up was, well, certainly unique, as Ezekiel Elliott (yes, the running back) served as the center on what amounted to a 8 yard hitch route that got blown the hell up.

I have watched this a number of times and I have yet to figure out what the plan was on this. When Kavontae Turpin catches the ball, there is no one for him to pitch it to immediately. If the plan was for him to catch and throw it back to the sideline, it was a terrible thought process because there’s no time for him to do anything as he gets lit up immediately. Also adding to the hilarity is Zeke trying to block after the snap, as he gets driven straight back into Prescott, only adding to the hurried nature of the play.

There isn’t a good play to run needing a touchdown from your own 24, but I am confident in saying this is a bad play call for that situation. At least the Cowboys gave us a laugh on their way out, although the Dallas faithful probably won’t see the humor in it all just yet.

Despite a runaway win over the Bucs in the Wild Card round, one of the biggest talking points coming into the Divisional round for the Cowboys was their kicking situation. Brett Maher missed four extra points to start the game in Tampa — after missing his last extra point of the regular season — as we appeared to be watching someone get the yips in real time.

Dallas chose not to hold kicker tryouts on the short turnaround before facing the San Francisco 49ers on the road, backing Maher and hoping he could shake off the worst kicking performance in league history. All of that set the stage on Sunday night for the most anticipated first half extra point in NFL Playoff history, when Maher stepped up after a Dak Prescott to Dalton Schultz touchdown put Dallas up 6-3. Maher’s attempt didn’t get past the line of scrimmage, thumping into a lineman’s hand to make for his sixth missed extra point in his last seven tries.

What makes it even more incredible is that it sure looked like this kick was going left from the beginning anyway, as Greg Olsen points out on the broadcast that Maher was kicking from the left hash and the block came from the left side of the snapper, which indicates this was hooking wide of the uprights whether it got hit or not.

It is genuinely one of the most incredible things to watch happen to someone in real time, as it feels like a slow-motion trainwreck where the Cowboys just refuse to do anything to stop it, continuing to trot Maher out there for kick after kick. He was struggling in warmups, to the point where Jerry Jones went out there to give him a pep talk, which doesn’t appear to have fixed anything.

Jones rather famously backed Maher after the Wild Card win in Tampa, but he may be regretting that loyalty as he watches the Cowboys leave more points on the board against a much better opponent. We’ll see if Dak Prescott gets his wish to “go for f*cking two” every time from here on out.

The Buffalo Bills entered Sunday afternoon as 5.5-point favorites against the Cincinnati Bengals, as the two teams got set to battle in the snow in Orchard Park for a chance to play Kansas City for the AFC Championship.

It became quickly apparent that the Bengals were the superior team on Sunday, as they jumped out to a 14-0 lead and, while the Bills would twice trim that lead to 7 in the late second and early third quarters, they never mounted much of a challenge to Joe Burrow and Cincinnati. While the Bengals carved up the Bills secondary through the air, with Burrow completing 23-of-36 passes for 242 yards and two touchdowns, the Bills struggled to replicate that same success — particularly when it came time to push the ball down the field on key downs.

On a few occasions, Josh Allen missed open receivers, as the ball seemed to be sailing on the Bills quarterback, notably on the first third down of the game when he missed Stefon Diggs for what would’ve been a big play to answer Cincinnati’s opening drive TD. Instead, they had to punt and were down 14 when they got the ball back, and Allen just never got into rhythm, going 25-of-42 for 265 yards, no touchdowns, and one interception.

Diggs finished the game with just 35 yards on four catches, and by the end of the game, his frustration started to boil over on the sidelines. After the last real chance for Buffalo ended with Allen missing Gabe Davis on fourth down in the end zone, Diggs made his displeasure with Allen not looking his way known on the sideline, with the star QB simply tuning him out and keeping his head down on the tablet.

That frustration from Diggs was shared by Buffalo fans and backers, as it felt notable how much Allen struggled while Burrow excelled — particularly early in the game when the Bengals took control of the game after a 9-for-9 start by Burrow — in the snowy conditions that Allen typically has an advantage in. On this afternoon in western New York, it wasn’t Allen’s nor the Bills day, and this offseason will likely bring some changes as the expectation in Buffalo is now to win, and a second round exit is no longer considered progress.

Electronic pop duo Sylvan Esso may be gearing up to hit the road for their No Rules tour this summer, but before they do, they stopped by CBS’ Saturday Sessions to practice their set. The Grammy-nominated act (comprised of singer Amelia Meath and producer Nick Sanborn) continues to find success in dance music thanks to the songs “Sunburn” and “Your Reality,” and their latest album, No Rules Sandy, cements their impact on the genre even further.

Backed by a six-piece band featuring Jenn Wasner (Flock Of Dimes and Wye Oak), drummers Joe Westerlund and TJ Maiani, and guitarist Mason Stoops, Sylvan Esso performed a melody of their songs “Didn’t Care,” “Your Reality,” and “Look At Me.”

Their performance is a wave of musical experimentation heard across their discography as Meath and Wasner sing, “I didn’t care / And I couldn’t feel it in the air / I didn’t know / When I met you how it would go,” listeners are taken on that journey.

When we talked with the pair about the writing process that went into their critically acclaimed album Free Love, Meath said, “You almost have to prove it to yourself instead of it being an intuition. You have to put into words what you’re reaching for.”

Watch their performance of “Didn’t Care” above and “Your Reality” and “Look At Me” below.

There have been a ton of jokes about George Santos, and rightfully so: After all, he’s given comedians so much material to work with. For their first episode of 2023, SNL led with a sketch partially about the truth-impaired new GOP lawmaker. When it came time for the latest installment of Weekend Update, you better believe they led with him, too.

Co-host Colin Jost started with one of Santos’ more bizarre lies: that he was a volleyball champ at Baruch College, which he never attended. For Jost, it wasn’t so much that he lied so much as the thing he lied about.

“Now that is a fine thing to be but an insane thing to pretend to be,” Jost joked. “Like, that’s his fantasy? It’s like asking a kid what do they want to be when they grow up and they’re like ‘I don’t know, assistant manager at Kohl’s.’”

Jost then turned to his sartorial choices, which consist of a lot of sweaters under suit jackets over top dress shirts.

“This guy is well dressed?” an exasperated Jost exclaimed. “He looks like he’s trying to steal clothes by putting them on over what he wore into the store.”

Co-host Michael Che got in the Santos fun, too, choosing to dwell on one of the more recent allegations about him.

“A drag queen who claims she performed with George Santos said the George did not have the glamour to be a professional,” Che said about claims Santos has sort of denied. “But she said another drag queen in Congress is absolutely slaying as the character Marjorie Taylor Greene,” he joked, alongside an image of one of the House’s kookiest characters.

You can watch Weekend Update — which also featured a nice little Parks and Recreation reunion — in the videos above and below.