During the cold open of the first "Saturday Night Live" of December, Alec Baldwin returned as a very mopey Donald Trump, who is sad about his growing legal problems — but also how Vladimir Putin seems to have a new BFF in Saudi Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman.
Also, Baldwin made a joke at his own expense about being accused of punching someone over a parking space a month ago.
The sketch saw Baldwin's Trump taking a break from this weekend's G20 summit in Argentina by stepping out onto his hotel room balcony to mope about this week's crazy developments. He started, of course, by fretting about how the Mueller investigation has heated up this week.
After complaining about having to hang out in Argentina with Europeans — "I'm a nationalist," he said, "what did nationalism ever do to Europe" — Trump was visited by his lawyer, Rudy Guiliani, played by a very game Kate McKinnon reminding everyone that she remains one of the current "SNL" cast's MVPs.
McKinnon's Rudy joked he "was hanging upside down under the balcony" like a vampire, and gave Trump the good news and bad news about the Mueller investigation. "The good news is it's almost over. The bad news, it's almost over."
After that, Baldwin's Trump made a secret call to Michael Cohen, played once again by Ben Stiller, to try and talk him about of testifying. After failing, Baldwin's Trump said "God, I haven't been so upset since I flipped out over that parking space."
Then the topic turned to what's really bugging Trump — the way Russian president Vladimir Putin broed out with the Saudi Crown Prince with that high five-handshake-hug on Friday.
Putin, played as usual by Beck Bennett, came out to pretend to console Trump. But the moment was ruined when MBS, played by Fred Armisen, showed up to cruelly remind Badlwin's Trump that he's no longer Putin's best friend.
"You're not my sidepiece," Bennett's Putin said. "You're like my main girlfriend. The Saudi guy is like some random hooker." Then he turned to Armisen's MBS and sarcastically said he couldn't believe MBS "killed that journalist." "Of course I didn't," Armisen's MBS said. "On opposite day."
Putin and MBS then dropped an exaggerated version of their "secret handshake," after which Armisen's MBS joked that "Trump was like 'please tell me you didn't do it,' and I was like 'you want oil or not?'"
The two left but not before Bennett's Putin twisted the knife further: "You won't see me for a while. I prefer presidents who don't get indicted," he said, then to MBS: "You're so actually rich. I love you."
After that, Trump got into the spirit of his Argentina trip — and the fascism joke he made earlier in the sketch — by singing a parody of "Don't Cry for Me Argentina" from "Evita," and then was joined by his administration as well as Stiller's Cohen.
You can watch the whole sketch here:
