SNL takes jabs at Biden’s age, Johnson in cold open

“Saturday Night Live” took aim at President Biden’s age and newly-elected Speaker Mike Johnson (R-La.) in its Halloween-themed cold open.

The skit features Biden, played by Mikey Day, delivering a Halloween message from the Oval Office where he attempts to hang up spooky decorations while climbing a ladder.

“Nothing puts people at ease, like an 80-year-old man hanging Halloween decorations,” the fake Biden says before climbing the ladder.

After the ladder starts to shake, the impersonated Biden gives up on hanging up the Halloween décor and climbs back down while joking about how ladders were “cutting-edge” technology when he was a kid.

“This is like an iPad,” he says, gesturing to the ladder.

After giving up on hanging his decorations on the windows, he picks up a severed-arm prop before poking fun at Biden’s dog Commander, which is no longer at the White House after several biting incidents involving Secret Service agents.

“What are these spooky decorations?” the fake Biden asks, picking up the prop. “That’s a severed arm. Oh, shoot. Oh no. That’s not a decoration. That’s an arm our dog Commander ripped off a secret service agent. Oh well.”

He then returns to take jabs at Biden’s age, saying that he loves Halloween so much because “a lot of my closest friends are ghosts.”

“I got a plan for Halloween. It’s called Boo Back Booer with all the classics, goblins, ghouls and of course, the Grim Reaper, who I physically fight every single day,” he comments, before Johnson, played by Michael Longfellow, walks in.

The cast members take aim at Johnson for not being a well-known member of Congress before being elected Speaker. The impersonated Biden mistakes Johnson for a White House aide.

“So how did you become Speaker?” Day, playing Biden, asks.

“Nobody knows!” Longfellow replies, before Devon Walker, playing Johnson’s son, walks in. 

“Hey guys, I’m his adult Black son. I’m only 11 years younger than him and I’m kind of a secret. It’s normal. Don’t look into that at all,” Walker says.

Johnson has faced scrutiny over how he and his wife Kelly, took care of a Black teenager 24 years ago and raised him. His son does not appear in the family photos posted on the Speaker’s website alongside his four other children.

“When Speaker Johnson first ran for Congress in 2016, he and his wife, Kelly, spoke to their son Michael—who they took in as newlyweds when Michael was 14 years old,” Corinne Day, communications director for Johnson, first said in a statement to Newsweek.

“At the time of the Speaker’s election to Congress, Michael was an adult with a family of his own,” the statement said. “He asked not to be involved in their new public life. The Speaker has respected that sentiment throughout his career and maintains a close relationship with Michael to this day.”