Lorne Michaels, executive producer of the long-running NBC sketch comedy show Saturday Night Live, announced that Russian Premier Vladimir Putin will host the show later this season. Michaels acknowledged there may be some criticism for the choice of a repressive Soviet leader currently raging a brutal war against Ukraine fronting the show.
However, he went on to say that “SNL has a long tradition of featuring controversial performers and politicians as hosts and guests. Vladi may be considered extreme for some in our audience but, on the other hand, we think it will be the most watched television show in broadcast history.”
An associate producer on the show, not authorized to speak to the media, says cast members are livid at the idea of Putin appearing. Still, echoing the words of Michaels, one of the veteran on-air performers said, “I think it’s going to get the most viewers since the invention of the vacuum tube. And as credits go, it doesn’t get much better than that.”
The SNL insider went on to say that some sketches are already in the works. “We’ve been getting ‘suggestions’ from some officials over at the Kremlin as to what Putin would be comfortable with.”
In one sketch a group of the cast is sitting around a table playing ‘Risk’, a board game of world domination. As the match goes on Putin has the other players executed where they sit as he moves his pieces across Europe.
Another skit pitched was a parody of ‘Fox and Friends” with Putin appearing as a guest on their show. At first, the hosts are openly hostile to the Russian leader but by the end of the bit those on the panel still left alive agree with everything he says.
Still another segment is a take-off of ‘Undercover Boss’ with Putin disguised as a low-ranking janitor at a meeting of Republican lawmakers. When he reveals himself to the attendees in the final segment of the sketch the former KGB agent hands out ‘donations’ to those who he found to be sympathetic to his leadership. Any of the others who spoke poorly of his country are dragged off stage and never seen again.
There’s talk of a special edition of ‘Weekend Update’ hosted by Putin and Tucker Carlson touching on the lighter side of mass citizen arrests, state-sponsored assassinations and borsht.
In addition, there’s also the possibility of a skit reminiscent of ‘Donald Trump’s House of Wings’. In that sketch, the former reality show host was dressed as a giant yellow chicken promoting his restaurant while other birds sang and danced around him. In an updated version, Putin just slaughters the competition.
Ironically, the musical guest for the night is scheduled to be Ted Nugent, an outspoken member of the far-right Oath Keepers and a rabid Trump supporter. An agent for Nugent, speaking off the record, said that while the ‘Can’t Scratch Fever’ crooner may seem an odd choice for the left-leading program he could attract viewers who normally wouldn’t tune in.
“And let’s face it,” Nugent’s agent added, “it could be the most seen thing like, ever. Plus, he could really use the money.”
SNL has a history of showcasing a wide spectrum of then-current newsmakers. They include the now disgraced Rudy Giuliani, failed presidential candidate John McCain, the stiff-as-a-board Ralph Nader, rabble-rouser Al Sharpton and, of course, an accused rapist facing multiple felonies in Donald Trump.
Some other questionable guests gracing the renowned Studio 8H stage have been the very scary Elon Musk, loony Kanye West, wicked witch Sarah Palin, overly obnoxious Andrew Dice Clay and accused murderer, but somehow not convicted, O.J. Simpson.
Said the SNL staffer, “And really, with Shane Gillis recently hosting the show it’s obvious we’ve given up on caring who we call.”