VIDEO ‘SNL’ Skits From Last Night: Watch Ukraine Cold Open, Weekend Update Mocks Putin

“Saturday Night Live” returned from its hiatus with an emotional tribute to Ukraine after the country was invaded by Russia last week.

The episode was hosted by comedian John Mulaney and featured musical guest LCD Soundsystem. Aside from the discussions on the Russia-Ukraine conflict, “SNL” brought back several familiar faces to celebrate Mulaney’s fifth time hosting the show.

Here are some of the notable sketches from the 13th episode of “Saturday Night Live” Season 47.

Ukraine Tribute

The NBC comedy sketch show kicked off the night by replacing the traditional cold open skit with a solemn tribute to Ukraine. Cast members Kate McKinnon and Cecily Strong introduced the Ukrainian Chorus Dumka of New York, who performed a rendition of the song “Prayer for Ukraine.”

The choir performed in front of an arrangement of candles and sunflowers, the national flower of Ukraine.

When the performance ended, Strong and McKinnon returned to the stage to say the signature phrase, “Live from New York, It’s Saturday Night.” As they delivered the line, the camera zoomed into the candle display, which read “Kyiv.”

Weekend Update

The “SNL” fake news segment attempted to find some comedy in Russia’s invasion of Ukraine by targeting Putin.

“President Putin launched the attack with support from allies like Belarus and Tucker Carlson,” co-anchor Colin Jost said.

“Many analysts were surprised that Putin went through with it even though it was obviously going to be a colossal mistake. But he couldn’t back down after all that buildup. Kind of like how NBC still had to go through with airing the Winter Olympics.”

The 2022 Beijing Olympic Games brought in record-low TV ratings for the network.

Jost went on to point out that former President “Donald Trump praised Vladimir Putin moving troops into Ukraine, saying, ‘This is genius.’ Though, ‘This is genius’ is also how he sarcastically introduces Eric [Trump].”

Five Timers Club

The latest episode of “SNL” saw the return of Conan O’Brien, Paul Rudd, Steve Martin, Tina Fey, Candice Bergen, and Elliott Gould to welcome Mulaney into the club of people who have hosted the sketch show five times.

The former “Tonight Show” host assured Mulaney that joining the club was an honor. “John, don’t listen to them, this is very, very special. I was in the very first five-timers special,” O’Brien said.

He noted that he and Mulaney were only supposed to be writers rather than having time on air. “John and I were never supposed to be on TV, we’re hideous,” he said.

Meanwhile, the group began to get concerned that the club was getting too big and someone would have to retire for Mulaney to join. Martin revealed Fey couldn’t leave since “she was the first woman ever to wear glasses on TV.”

Meanwhile, Fey said Bergen couldn’t retire because she was “back here in the 70s, can you imagine the sexual harassment that happened back then?”

In the end, Rudd decided to give up his member’s jacket to Mulaney to celebrate the special moment.

Actor Oscar Issac will host the next episode of “Saturday Night Live” with Charli XCX as the musical guest.