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'Morning Joe' Gets Awkward And Kids Search For Kellyanne Conway On 'SNL'

Saturday Night Live didn't jab President Trump as much this week as it has done in previous episodes. Instead, the show largely stayed away from politics and got goofy.

But there were a couple of exceptions.

The cold open was a parody of the MSNBC show Morning Joe. After years of hosting the morning political talk show together and rumors about a relationship, Joe Scarborough and Mika Brzezinski announced their engagement last week. What does this mean for the future of the show, now that their feelings are out in the open?

SNL guessed that it would be an awkward experience, especially for the other regulars on the show.

After a few minutes of flirtatious wackiness, the sketch goes on to have a man identified as John Miller call in. But it's the unmistakable voice of Alec Baldwin as President Trump. A Washington Post report last year said that earlier in his life, Trump called reporters and pretended to be his own PR person.

Baldwin — who might as well become a cast member with the number of times he has played Trump this past season — calls in to trumpet the passage of the Republican health care law and the repeal of the Affordable Care Act.

Wait, Scarborough (Alex Moffat) points out, actually the bill still has to go through the Senate.

"What now?" Trump asks.

According to Vanity Fair, the real Trump has offered to have Scarborough and Brzezinski's wedding at Mar-a-Lago or the White House.

Next came the monologue from actor Chris Pine, who was hosting the show. He read the mind of viewers (including this one) who were surprised to see the actor from Star Trek and not the one from Jurassic World.

Oh wait, that's Chris Pratt. They're so easy to get confused. Luckily, Chris Pine had a big banner and song explaining the different famous white male 30s-looking actors named Chris. Thanks!

A following sketch will bring back memories for those who grew up in the 1990s. SNL had a new version of the geography-lesson game show for kids, Where in the World Is Carmen Sandiego?

But this time, they're looking for Kellyanne Conway. Where in the world has the real Conway been? The former television fixture hasn't been seen much recently. Last month, NPR's Domenico Montanaro laid out a few reasons why.

Later, the "Weekend Update" segment had some digs at Trump, as is usual, and plenty of lambasting of the GOP health care bill.

"This bill has a provision that requires children's wheelchairs to explode," Colin Jost joked.

But mostly, the show was a bunch of goofy non sequiturs. Like two men in their 30s having a cotton candy dance party, a super-intense reality-show conflict over "margarita night," and Stav D's "Song for Peace" from Slavic Jam Records.

The show is back next week with Melissa McCarthy hosting and musical guest HAIM. Perhaps we'll see "Spicey" again.

Copyright 2021 NPR. To see more, visit https://www.npr.org.

James Doubek is an associate editor and reporter for NPR. He frequently covers breaking news for NPR.org and NPR's hourly newscast. In 2018, he reported feature stories for NPR's business desk on topics including electric scooters, cryptocurrency, and small business owners who lost out when Amazon made a deal with Apple.