'SNL' brought up the incident in the cold open, the monologue, a sketch, and a 'Weekend Update' segment.
Saturday Night Live returned over the weekend with a whole lot of material, thanks to incident that occurred at the Oscars when Will Smith slapped Chris Rock.
Many expected the slap heard 'round the world to be the primary focus of the night's cold open -- although the show instead opted to for politically-focused sketch that only touched on the slap, via James Austin Johnson portraying former President Donald Trump.
However, first-time host Jerrod Carmichael made sure to address the elephant in the room in his hilarious debut monologue. Additionally, Michael Che and Colin Jost didn't hold back while mocking the controversy during Weekend Update. And then there was the sketch that took fans back to the night in question with an up close and personal look at what it was like for the people around Smith during the altercation.
Here's a roundup of how this week's SNL dealt with the largest pop culture news story in recent memory.
"Seat Fillers"
Carmichael plays an Oscars seat filler who is overjoyed to be sitting next to his Hollywood hero, Will Smith. He asks for a selfie, which Smith cheerfully agrees to -- until he hears a joke from Chris Rock on stage and excuses himself to slap the comedian in the face. The whole sketch plays out from the perspective of the horrified seat filler who doesn't know how to deal with the situation.
"Fox & Friends Cold Open"
Surprisingly, SNL saved it's best Oscars comedy for later in the show, and used the cold open to address political developments during the time the show has been off for the past three weeks. However, Johnson's Trump calls into Fox & Friends in the sketch, where he addressed the slap. "You know, I did see slap. I enjoyed slap. I was very impressed by Hitch. Quite an arm on Hitch. I always knew Hitch had an arm... It's a sad night for Hitch too. That kind of behavior is not going to help Kevin James get a date with Allegra Cole, I'll tell you that."
"Jerrod Carmichael Monologue"
Without referring to Smith or Rock by name, Carmichael delivered a monologue almost entirely devoted to mocking the incident and the subsequent and seemingly endless debates that have popped up in its wake. "This is going to really blow your minds. Can you believe that it's been six days? Six days! This happened a week ago," he explained. "Doesn't it feel like it happened years ago? Like doesn't it feel like it happened when we were all in high school? Like it feels like it happened between Jamiroquai and 9/11. A long, long time ago. It happened on Sunday. Sunday! It's Saturday, bro."
"Weekend Update"
Nearly the first five minutes of this week's Weekend Update was devoted to the shocking turn of events, with Jost and Che both poking a lot of fun at Smith's behavior and his subsequent resignation from the Academy.
Later in the sketch, Kenan Thompson busted out his tried and true OJ Simpson impression, and weighed in on Smith's apparent "rage" issues, in a masterstroke of comedic irony. "Love will make you do crazy things... allegedly," Thompson's Simpson quips.
Saturday Night Live airs live coast-to-coast at 8:30 p.m. PT, 11:30 p.m. ET on NBC.
RELATED CONTENT:
