Amy Poehler & Tina Fey Teamed Up as Pam Bondi and Kristi Noem in SNL's Cold Open
The beloved SNL alum duo played members of the Trump administration, with Fey practically unrecognizable.
Tired of scrolling? Click here to bump NBC.com's latest news to the top of your search results.
If you'd hoped Amy Poehler would put in a rare Host appearance during her Saturday Night Live episode's cold open, you got more than you bargained for on October 11: Poehler impersonated Attorney General Pam Bondi while her friend, collaborator, and former cast mate Tina Fey crashed Bondi's Senate hearing as Secretary of Homeland Security Kristi Noem.
The cold open was a parody of Bondi's October 7 hearing, in which Democrats pressed the Attorney General about her evasive answers regarding the Jeffrey Epstein files, whether former FBI director James Comey's indictment was an act of political revenge by President Donald Trump.
RELATED: Watch Amy Poehler's Saturday Night Live Monologue and Sketches from October 11
RELATED: Saturday Night Live's Season 51 Cast Members
RELATED: Colin Jost's Pete Hegseth Was Upstaged By Trump in SNL's Cold Open
SNL's version of the hearing opened similarly. "As we say down around the Bayou, this here attorney general got some 'splaining to do," Senator John Kennedy (Andrew Dismukes) said, before Poehler was revealed to be Bondi.
Amy Poehler crushed SNL's "Pam Bondi Hearing Cold Open"
"What's up nerds," Poehler's Bondi told them, later adding, "My name is Pam Bondi. I spell it with an 'I' 'cause I ain't gonna answer any of your questions. My time is valuable. The DOJ has many ongoing operations, and we're moving like Kash Patel's eyeballs: very quickly in multiple directions at once."
The sketch also poked fun at the real sheet of paper photographers captured Bondi with during the hearing, in which she'd prewritten verbal jabs to deflect questions with. "Look at this honky! Even people in Connecticut go, 'Damn, that guy's white as hell.' That's just one of the many roast-style burns that I have here on this paper. Don't make me use them," she told Senator Blumenthal (Mikey Day).
The col open also featured new cast members Tommy Brennan and Jeremy Culhane as Senators Dick Durbin and Sheldon Whitehouse. "I'm not even gonna dignify that question with a lie," Poehler's Bondi told Whitehouse when he asked about the unreleased Epstein files.
When Durbin asked her about the increasing ICE presence across America, Bondi brought out the big guns. Or rather, a certain woman holding a very big gun.
RELATED: 6 Amy Poehler SNL Characters That Will Forever Be Iconic
Tina Fey was nearly unrecognizable as gun-toting Kristi Noem
In a lavender pantsuit and Department of Homeland Security baseball cap, Fey strutted onstage to wild applause from the audience. "Hold my gun," she said as the ex-South Dakota governor turned Secretary of Homeland Security, before introducing herself. "I'm the rarest type of person in Washington D.C.: A brunette that Donald Trump listens to."
When a Senator told Noem they're eager to end the government shutdown, SNL referenced Noem's confession that she'd once shot a puppy. "Ha! That makes me laugh more than the end of "Old Yeller."
She also defended ICE with an example of one of her recruiting ads, with Bondi's help: "Do you need a job now? (Yeah!) Are you a big, tough guy? (Yeah!) Tough enough for the army or police? (No!) But do you take supplements that you bought at a gas station? (Daily.) Do you like to use zip ties, because people in your life don't trust you with keys? (You know it!) Then buckle up and slap on some Oakleys, big boy. Welcome to ICE."
Watch SNL's "Pam Bondi Hearing Cold Open" above, and watch every episode of Saturday Night Live on NBC and Peacock, streaming next-day on Peacock.
Fey made a wonderful additional cameo later in the episode, when she joined Poehler and Seth Meyers for a classic "Weekend Update" Joke Off against Colin Jost and Michael Che. "Me + Mt Rushmore," Meyers adorably captioned an Instagram Story photo of the five "Update" anchors.
