{"id":1799,"date":"2026-05-17T03:51:00","date_gmt":"2026-05-17T03:51:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/newsmag.live\/2026\/05\/17\/will-ferrell-facilitates-reunion-between-trump-and-the-ghost-of-epstein-on-snl-season-51-finale\/"},"modified":"2026-05-17T03:51:00","modified_gmt":"2026-05-17T03:51:00","slug":"will-ferrell-facilitates-reunion-between-trump-and-the-ghost-of-epstein-on-snl-season-51-finale","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/newsmag.live\/ja\/2026\/05\/17\/will-ferrell-facilitates-reunion-between-trump-and-the-ghost-of-epstein-on-snl-season-51-finale\/","title":{"rendered":"Will Ferrell Facilitates Reunion Between Trump and the Ghost of Epstein on \u2018SNL\u2019 Season 51 Finale"},"content":{"rendered":"
\n

\t \t \t\t<\/svg>\t\tLogo text<\/span> \t<\/a> <\/p>\n

\t\u30b5\u30bf\u30c7\u30fc\u30fb\u30ca\u30a4\u30c8\u30fb\u30e9\u30a4\u30d6<\/a><\/em> closed out its 51st season on Saturday night, where Will Ferrell<\/a> returned to host the long-running sketch comedy series. <\/p>\n

\tBefore his opening monologue, the You\u2019re Cordially Invited<\/em> actor appeared in the cold open alongside James Austin Johnson\u2019s Trump, where he portrayed a ghostly Jeffrey Epstein. <\/p>\n

\tUpon returning from his trip to China, the faux president opted to get some rest and took a nap \u201con this gold bar that Switzerland gave me as a straight-up bribe.\u201d As he drifted off to sleep, a cloudy vision of none other than Epstein popped up, in ghost form. \t<\/p>\n

\t\u201cDon\u2019t worry, Donald, it\u2019s me, your best friend, Jeffrey Epstein,\u201d he said. \u201cJeffrey, I thought you were dead,\u201d Johnson\u2019s Trump replied.<\/p>\n

\t\u201cI am, remember? I killed myself. Wink!<\/em>\u201d Ferrell\u2019s Epstein added. The two began to catch up, as Trump asked Epstein how heaven was. \u201cIt\u2019s really hot,\u201d he revealed. <\/p>\n

\t\u201cYou know me, I keep busy, mahjong every Wednesday with Stalin and John Wayne Gacy. That guy has stories,\u201d Ferrell\u2019s Epstein said. \u201cWhat else? Oh, I just wrote for the Kevin Hart roast. Had some zingers in there.\u201d<\/p>\n

\tTrump gave him a run-down on his \u201cfun summer plans,\u201d which include this year\u2019s \u201cPatriot Games,\u201d which will assemble a group of high school athletes from every state and territory.<\/p>\n

\t\u201cWell, you know, we\u2019ve got the World Cup UFC fight on my lawn like I\u2019m white trash on WorldStar, and we\u2019re also doing the Patriot Games where high school athletes come from all over the country,\u201d Johnson\u2019s Trump said. \u201cBo-oi-oi-oi-oing,\u201d Ferrell\u2019s Epstein replied.<\/p>\n

\t\u201cWe had some fun times together, didn\u2019t we, Donny? We should have taken more pictures,\u201d he added. \u201cNo, it\u2019s really bad that we took any,\u201d Johnson\u2019s Trump asserted. \t<\/p>\n

\tFerrell\u2019s Epstein then revealed that he could see into the future, and offered to show Trump what Kristi Noem (Ashley Padilla) would be up to in six months after being fired earlier this year.\u00a0Turns out, she will be selling products on TV. He also offered a look into Pete Hegseth\u2019s (Colin Jost) future, who was partying with Kash Patel, marking the third week in a row that Aziz Ansari joined the cold open<\/a> to portray the director of the FBI.<\/p>\n

\tBefore Trump and Epstein parted ways once more, they performed a duet to the tune of Grover Washington Jr.\u2019s \u201cJust the Two of Us.\u201d Ferrell\u2019s Epstein left him with a distinct message: \u201cWell, Donny, just remember, no matter how many wars you start or how bad you tank the economy as a distraction, people will always associate you with me. And that, my dear close friend, that is a beautiful thing.\u201d<\/p>\n

<\/figure>\n

\tChad Smith of the Red Hot Chili Peppers crashed Ferrell\u2019s monologue before the actor even had a chance to make it on stage. He began addressing the audience as if he were the Elf<\/em> star himself. <\/p>\n

\t\u201cI\u2019m thrilled to be back here at \u30b5\u30bf\u30c7\u30fc\u30fb\u30ca\u30a4\u30c8\u30fb\u30e9\u30a4\u30d6<\/em>. I was a cast member here for seven years, and now I\u2019m hosting for the sixth time,\u201d Smith said. \u201cIt really feels like it really feels like coming home.\u201d <\/p>\n

\tFerrell then joined Smith onstage, questioning \u201cWhat the hell do you think you\u2019re doing?\u201d<\/p>\n

\t\u201cI think I\u2019m hosting the show,\u201d Smith replied, to which the actor rebutted, \u201cYou\u2019re not the host, I am!\u201d The pair looked strikingly similar, wearing almost identical suits with their hair styled similarly. \t<\/p>\n

\tFerrell appeared jokingly shaken up by the mistake, opting to \u201cdo what the host does when they don\u2019t have any ideas. I\u2019ll just take questions from the audience.\u201d He then called upon \u201cthe cute one,\u201d which just so happened to be Paul McCartney<\/a>. <\/p>\n

\t\u201cWhat do you think you\u2019re doing, Chad?\u201d the former Beatles member said.<\/p>\n

\t\u201cNo, Sir Paul McCartney, why don\u2019t you come up here?\u201d Ferrell said. \u201cI understand your confusion, me and Chad do look a lot alike, but I\u2019m Will. I\u2019m hosting tonight.\u201d<\/p>\n

\tMcCartney responded, \u201cNice try, Chad. Get back behind the drums where you belong.\u201d<\/p>\n

<\/figure>\n

\tTo add to the episode\u2019s star-studded cameos, Ferrell\u2019s Superstar<\/em> co-star Molly Shannon also popped up in a later sketch. During the final \u201cWeekend Update\u201d segment of season 51, Jost and Michael Che partook in their joke swap tradition, where they take turns saying jokes they each wrote for one another that they are not privy to. <\/p>\n

\tJost read a joke about Kanye West, noting, \u201cYe has released a new album called Bully<\/em>, so please try to separate the art from the artist and remember that Ye can make awful music and still be right about Hitler.\u201d <\/p>\n

\tTo add on to that bit, Che had Jost nearly shave his hair off on live television. <\/p>\n

\t\u201cNow, that joke is offensive to everybody, and I do apologize,\u201d Jost said after the West joke. \u201cI\u2019d like to sacrifice the most important thing in my life, my beautiful, award-winning, world-famous hair. That\u2019s right, I\u2019m shaving it off. Send in the barber.\u201d \t<\/p>\n

\tA man then entered the stage with a pair of clippers, as Jost pronounced, \u201cJerome, make me unpretty.\u201d Che stopped him before he was able to actually shave off any of Jost\u2019s hair: \u201cNo, no, no! You were really going to do it? Man, you are the greatest comedian of all time.\u201d<\/p>\n

\tThe six-time Emmy Award winner made his sixth hosting appearance with the season 51 finale. He, of course, used to be an SNL<\/a><\/em> castmember from 1995-2002, and went on to make his debut as host in 2005. He has made a number of cameos on the show throughout the years, and also appeared in the SNL<\/em>\u2018s 50th Anniversary Special<\/a><\/em> in February of last year.<\/p>\n

\tWith Ferrell as host<\/a>, McCartney joined as the finale\u2019s musical guest. Just as the episode was nearing its end, and as the the Step Brothers<\/em> actors thanked everyone for tuning in for SNL<\/em>, McCartney performed an encore performance of \u201cComing Up\u201d to close out season 51. <\/p>\n

\tMore to come.<\/em><\/p>\n<\/p><\/div>","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Logo text Saturday Night Live closed out its 51st season on Saturday night, where Will Ferrell returned to host the long-running sketch comedy series. Before his opening monologue, the You\u2019re Cordially Invited actor appeared in the cold open alongside James Austin Johnson\u2019s Trump, where he portrayed a ghostly Jeffrey Epstein. Upon returning from his trip to China, the faux president opted to get some rest and took a nap \u201con this gold bar that Switzerland gave me as a straight-up bribe.\u201d As he drifted off to sleep, a cloudy vision of none other than Epstein popped up, in ghost form. \u201cDon\u2019t worry, Donald, it\u2019s me, your best friend, Jeffrey Epstein,\u201d […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":1800,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"tdm_status":"","tdm_grid_status":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[2,1141,556,557,85,86,1142],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-1799","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-hollywood","category-paul-mccartney","category-saturday-night-live","category-snl","category-tv","category-tv-news","category-will-ferrell"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/newsmag.live\/ja\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1799","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/newsmag.live\/ja\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/newsmag.live\/ja\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/newsmag.live\/ja\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/newsmag.live\/ja\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=1799"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/newsmag.live\/ja\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1799\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/newsmag.live\/ja\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/1800"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/newsmag.live\/ja\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=1799"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/newsmag.live\/ja\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=1799"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/newsmag.live\/ja\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=1799"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}