“Saturday Night Live” (SNL) couldn’t pass on the opportunity to parody Congressman George Santos during its first show since Dec. 17. SNL veteran Bowen Yang portrayed Santos in both the cold open and on the “Weekend Update” portion of the Jan. 21 episode.
In the cold open, Yang’s Santos is revealed to be the new sideline reporter for Fox’s NFL playoff coverage after lying about essentially being the greatest football player of all time. In recapping the Philadelphia Eagles’ win over the New York Giants, Santos claims he led them to victory as their secret weapon, completing 36 of 25 passes for 300 yards AND 600 yards, with 12 touchdowns, 17 rebounds and 10 runs batted in. He also claimed to have received an Oscar from Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy. He also claimed to be 18 years old.
Santos has become viewed by many across the country as a national laughingstock as more and more lies about his past have surfaced. It has grown to the point that new information about him comes to light almost every week. Some of the latest revelations to surface include an allegationsthat he performed as a drag queen, going by the name of Kitara Ravache, while living in Brazil, as well as an allegation that he stole $3,000 from a then-homeless veteran after setting up a GoFundMe to pay for the veterans dog’s lifesaving surgery. Both were easy topics for SNL to parody.
It was Yang’s portrayal of Santos as Kitara Ravache that earned the biggest roar from the audience in the cold open. In his appearance on “Weekend Update,” Yang’s Santos argues that while he is just one of many politicians who lies, at least his were fun.
This marked the first new episode of SNL since the first allegations made about Santos lying about his background first emerged in a New York Times investigative article on Dec. 19. Since then, the lies and revelations about Santos have snowballed at a drastic rate.
Yang hasn’t been the only actor to portray the controversial congressman on late night shows recently.
In addition to the “Nora from Queens” star, SNL alumni Jon Lovitz appeared as Santos on “The Tonight Show with Jimmy Fallon” and “What We Do in the Shadows” star Harvey Guillen recently portrayed him on “The Late Show with Stephen Colbert.”
All these parodies caught the attention of Santos, who attempted to mock the shows for trying to make fun of him.
I have now been enshrined in late night TV history with all these impersonations, but they are all TERRIBLE so far. Jon Lovitz is supposed to be one of the greatest comedians of all time and that was embarrassing— for him not me! These comedians need to step their game up.
— George Santos (@MrSantosNY) January 23, 2023
Still, each portrayal has made the rounds on the internet, with each earning mostly critical praise.
