When celebrities cross the line, Saturday Night Live is there to knock them down a peg! Join us as we look at the times SNL brilliantly roasted public figures who had it coming. From political figures facing brutal parodies to reality stars getting a taste of their own medicine, these sketches pulled no punches. Which celebrity takedown had you laughing the hardest?
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00:00How stupid do you think I am? Is this a camera? No. No. That's a prank.
00:06Welcome to WatchMojo, and today we're looking at the times that Saturday Night Live took aim
00:11at public figures who arguably had it coming. You've got Alaska here, and this right here
00:16is water, and then that's up there's Russia. So we keep an eye on them.
00:23Elon Musk. Hi guys. Hi guys.
00:26Elon, we love your outfit. Very official and respectful.
00:31And I love when he gets that chainsaw right next to my head.
00:35Thanks. Donald, what are you doing in my office?
00:40Whether you think he's a visionary who will get humanity to Mars or a grifter hell-bent
00:44on dismantling the US government, it's hard to deny that the South African-born
00:47Musk is hunger for the spotlight can be a bit much. That's why his 2025 SNL roast hit so hard.
00:54Coming off of Musk's then-recent wielding of a chainsaw at a conservative rally,
00:59this cold open parodied a truly disastrous meeting between President Donald Trump
01:04and Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky. Awesome, awesome, awesome. You've got to
01:09make a joke. Legalize comedy. Legalize comedy. Come on. Legalize it.
01:18I'm so comfortable with all of that. In a cameo appearance that audibly
01:22delighted the studio audience, SNL alumni Mike Myers expertly captured Musk's public persona.
01:28Musk reacted simply but derisively to the sketch, posting to X that humor fails when it lies.
01:34They're saying I'm firing people with no cause. But I do have cause. It's cause I feel like it.
01:44Glitch.
01:44Better.
01:52The Kardashians.
01:53Order in the Courtney. I'm good at this.
01:58Watch as she puts her judginess to good use and tackles the most serious family issues.
02:04Kim, Khloe, what's the problem?
02:06Kim stole my makeup artist.
02:08Oh my god, I needed him today.
02:10You're in your Met Gala outfit. No one can even see your face.
02:13Sometimes a roast works better when you keep it in the family. That was the case in this 2021
02:17sketch as part of an episode hosted by socialite Kim Kardashian. Parodying arbitration-based
02:22reality court shows like Judge Judy, this version puts a unique spin on the genre.
02:27The People's Court is hosted and presided over by Kardashian's real-life sister Courtney,
02:31lovingly played here by Kim.
02:33Mom, why are you suing Kylie and Kendall?
02:36I'm suing Kylie because she hasn't had her baby yet.
02:40We have a whole marketing PR plan and she's costing us money.
02:47I can't, like, grow it faster, Mom.
02:50Yes, you can. Take it from me. I had Khloe. I made her in four months.
02:55Described by the narrator as being basically the same as keeping up with the Kardashians,
02:59but with a little more structure, the People's Court also sees Kim's sister Khloe and mother
03:04Kris playing themselves. For those who have a less-than-favorable opinion of their family,
03:08this is your chance to unabashedly point and laugh.
03:11Ew, this is so cringe. Guilty.
03:15Who's guilty? Me, Mom, or Kylie?
03:17I don't care. You pick.
03:20There's time for more than legal drama, because even a judge has to let her hair down.
03:25With Courtney's boyfriend, straight out of the year 2000, blink-182's Travis Barker.
03:30Travis. Travis, baby. I have to do my show.
03:35Carole Baskin
03:36Hail, you cool cats and kittens. Come bike with me.
03:42Now, don't go too fast. Where are all the kitties?
03:45Oh, yeah. Remember Tiger King, the reality show that gripped society in the early
03:50months of the COVID-19 pandemic? Tiger King was a larger-than-life tale with even larger characters.
03:55As such, it was only a matter of time before the legendary NBC sketch
03:59show set its sights on the major players of Tiger King.
04:02Good thing I'm not covered in sardine oil.
04:07Hail, you cool cats and kittens. Come bike with me.
04:10Cast member and master impressionist Chloe Fineman, during one of the show's COVID-era episodes,
04:15parodied eccentric conservationist Carole Baskin as part of a masterclass spoof.
04:20That is, an excuse for Fineman to trot out her best impersonations.
04:23Alongside Timothee Chalamet and Jojo Siwa,
04:26Fineman's Baskin inexplicably teaches biking, and casually reiterates the fact
04:31that she definitely didn't play a part in her ex-husband's mysterious disappearance.
04:35Riding my bike on the big kitty lake around the kitty cat preserve,
04:38and I didn't kill my husband. I like to ride by the big, big kitties and the little baby kitties.
04:45Masterclass, Quarantine Edition.
04:47Also, I didn't kill my husband.
04:49Still just as expensive.
04:51Brett Kavanaugh.
04:53What?
04:55Judge Kavanaugh, are you ready to begin? Oh, hell yeah.
05:00Let me tell you this. I'm gonna start at an 11. I'm gonna take it to about a 15 real quick.
05:10Anytime a media circus erupts in the public eye,
05:13you can bet SNL will be front and center taking notes.
05:15The 2018 controversy over then-Supreme Court nominee Brett Kavanaugh is a prime example of
05:20this, with his Senate confirmation proceedings being widely publicized over his past conduct.
05:25I showed this speech to almost no one. Not my family, not my friends,
05:33not even PJ or Tobin or Squeed. This is my speech. There are others like it, but this is mine.
05:42I wrote it myself last night while screaming into an empty bag of Doritos.
05:46The season 44 cold open tackled the contentious sessions with aplomb,
05:50casting surprise guest star Matt Damon as the nominee.
05:53Parodying the hearing's most cringeworthy moments, Damon was Emmy-nominated for his
05:57shockingly spot-on Kavanaugh impression, which poked fun at the Associate Justice's volatility,
06:02seeming lack of accountability, and, well, let's call it passion.
06:06Look, I like beer, okay? I like beer. Boys like beer. Girls like beer. I like beer. I like beer.
06:18Okay, so I asked if you drank in high school, and you said, I like beer ten times.
06:25Meghan McCain.
06:27Can I just say something? As the princess of Arizona,
06:33there is a crisis at the border, and the border is right up in my Arizona,
06:39which was founded on sunburnt women selling turquoise jewelry, not rando Mexican.
06:46This TV personality and daughter of the late Senator John McCain may have interned at
06:51Saturday Night Live in the late 90s, but that didn't give her a free pass from being roasted
06:55on the show. Case in point? Aidy Bryant's hilarious, relentless impression of her.
06:59The former first daughter of Arizona co-hosted The View from 2017 to 2021,
07:04earning a reputation as the show's firebrand token conservative.
07:07You've been at the forefront of the anti-vaccination movement for many years,
07:13but what was the tea on the mask singer? Did you know that the pineapple was Tommy Chong?
07:18No, no, I actually thought it was Barack Obama.
07:21This 2019 sketch blasted McCain's on-air persona, poking fun at her penchant for outlandish,
07:27often incendiary comments. Although the real McCain reacted positively to the sketch at the
07:31time, she has since distanced herself from those comments. Watching the sketch, it becomes clear
07:36as to why. But what the left fails to understand is that vaccinations are a personal liberty issue.
07:42Okay, great, let him go extinct. Okay, can you let me finish? Can you let me talk? Well,
07:47can you let me finish? Can I punch you in the face? No, no, no, no. We'll be back. This is The View.
07:54Kendall Jenner
07:55No, we're celebrating these cultures. We're celebrating black culture.
08:02Dancing hip-hop. But we're also celebrating Asian culture.
08:06After the reality show star and social media personality's appearance in the Live For Now
08:10advertising campaign, it was hard to look at a can of Pepsi the same way again.
08:15Intended to project a global message of unity, peace, and understanding, the ad was lambasted
08:20for its reductive, insensitive portrayal of hot-button issues, like police brutality. Of
08:25course, Saturday Night Live was right there to bask in all of its cringeworthy glory,
08:29depicting a fictionalized myth about a man who's been shot by a police officer,
08:33depicting a fictionalized making-of process.
08:37Sixty seconds till we roll on this man's singular vision.
08:41Ah, yes.
08:43Hey, man, could you maybe put a neighbor on the phone? Like a black one?
08:47Beck Bennett's naive director is initially optimistic about the commercial's potential,
08:51before quickly realizing that his set is a ticking time-bob.
08:54Cecily Strong's Jenner appears at the tail end of the sketch,
08:58only serving to confirm Bennett's character's worst fears.
09:00Okay, well, by the way, I gotta go. I'm on the set of my Pepsi commercial.
09:05Um, I stopped the police from shooting black people by handing them a Pepsi.
09:09I know, it's cute, right?
09:11Sarah Palin.
09:12Governor Palin, thank you for agreeing to talk with me one more time.
09:18Oh, hey, you know, sure.
09:23Did you enjoy your week in New York City?
09:26You know, I did, Katie, and I wasn't sure I would at first.
09:30Tina Fey's iconic impression of the former Alaska governor
09:33and Republican vice presidential candidate is obviously now the stuff of American comedy legend.
09:38Perhaps Fey's finest moment in character, this sketch found Fey and co-star Amy Poehler
09:43parodying a real-life series of interviews between then-Governor Palin and journalist Katie Couric.
09:48You went to the U.N. for the first time. How was that experience?
09:52Oh, you know, it was just amazing. So many interesting people,
09:56though I have to say I was disheartened by how many of them were foreigners.
10:02I promise that when Senator McCain and I are elected,
10:06we're gonna get those jobs back in American hands.
10:09In a fitting testament to the strength and impact of Fey's impression,
10:13some of her lines here weren't written for her at all. In fact, Fey-Palin's response to a question
10:17about job creation was ripped verbatim from the original interview. Given the unintentionally
10:22humorous tone of Palin's statements, maybe she would have been better off as an SNL writer.
10:26You know, we've got to accompany tax reduction and tax relief for Americans also.
10:31O.J. Simpson.
10:32So, um, O.J., is that a nickname?
10:43No, actually, it's my first and middle names, uh,
10:46Orenthal James, but, uh, you know, I did have a nickname for a little while, Juice.
10:53As in, juice is loose.
10:54There are no shortage of SNL moments spoofing the infamous Buffalo Bill's running back.
10:59Former cast member Norm MacDonald was notorious for making fun of Simpson's 90s legal drama,
11:04in which he stood accused of murdering his ex-wife, Nicole Brown Simpson, and her friend,
11:08Ron Goldman. However, we ultimately had to go with this 2017 sketch,
11:12featuring Kenan Thompson's chipper, recurring O.J. impression.
11:16Are you famous or something?
11:18Me? No, no, I mean, not really famous, no. Uh, so when you're dating somebody,
11:23do you, like, ever Google them?
11:26No, I really prefer the mystery of it, you know, to sit together and talk to you face to face.
11:33Fantastic, fantastic.
11:35Episode host and Wonder Woman star Gal Gadot plays a woman meeting up with a bumble date,
11:40who turns out to be Simpson. Thankfully for the fictional O.J., she is blissfully unaware
11:44of his controversial past, and ignores a number of red flags that'll freak out those familiar
11:48with the case.
11:49I have to ask, how is it that you're still single?
11:54It's a mystery.
11:58Oh, excuse me, it's my friend. I told her to call me in case you were a psycho.
12:05Hey, Rachel. No, no, no, everything is okay, don't worry. I'm having a really good time with O.J.
12:11R. Kelly
12:12My lawyer was telling me no, but my ego, my ego was telling me yes.
12:19Robert, please call me victim.
12:21No, tell me some of the things that people are saying about you.
12:26That I have a harem of young girls, and that I started a, uh, what's the word? Starts with a Q.
12:32You mean cult?
12:34Yeah, that's it.
12:35Oof, where to even start with this one? For this parody of the trainwreck CBS This Morning
12:40interview, SNL writers barely even had to alter real events. Kelly, accused of a wide range of
12:45crimes like harassment, abuse, and even holding women hostage, appeared on the CBS program as a
12:51way to defend his honor. What happened instead was a juvenile tantrum for which King was praised
12:56for her coolness and steely resolve.
12:58Think for a minute. Use your brains. Why would I do these things? For 30 years,
13:06I gave y'all trapped in the closet, feeling on your booty. Age ain't nothing but a number,
13:14and so many other clues.
13:16Unsurprisingly, Kenan Thompson shines as the disgraced Grammy winner,
13:20mocking Kelly's various public scandals and controversies, as well as his music career.
13:24Come for the hilarious impressions, stay for the moment in which Thompson's Kelly
13:27reveals he thinks his interviewer's name and job title is Jail King.
13:32Robert, you've been combative, defensive, and completely unhinged,
13:36but somehow you expect us to believe you are completely innocent.
13:40That would be ideal, yes. And now I humbly await your decision, Ms. Jail King.
13:46My name is Gail King, with a G. So you're not the Jail King?
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14:08Kanye West
14:08This is a serious, private conversation between three friends, plus 50 reporters with cameras.
14:14I'm proud to welcome Kanye West, Yeezus, Yandi, Yedam, Yossain, an amazing guy.
14:23Oh, how the mighty have fallen. Watching this sketch representing Donald Trump's first term
14:28in office now feels worlds away, and almost quaint. SNL parodies of Trump, in which the
14:33president was famously played by Alec Baldwin, tended to focus on the sheer weirdness of his
14:37first administration.
14:39But Kanye wants to make one or two brief, lucid remarks.
14:45First, let me begin with the idea that time is a myth of infinite amounts of universe,
14:51and I'm a prisoner in a different dimension. Have I lost anyone so far?
14:56One of those moments was rapper Kanye West's real-life visit to the Oval Office,
15:00which Baldwin's Trump assures audiences is definitely not a publicity stunt.
15:04Chris Redd, sorely underrated as an SNL cast member, nails West's loose,
15:09stream-of-consciousness style of speaking, and does a lot to remind us that we miss the old Kanye.
15:28Are there any SNL celebrity roasts that we missed? Be sure to let us know in the comments below.
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