SNL Cold Open Puts Jost's Hegseth, Trump and a Frozen McConnell in One Strategy Room

Colin Jost chugged a can of Spider-Man's non-alcoholic beer on Saturday Night Live.

The Oct. 3 cold open, meaning the opening sketch before the title sequence, brought Jost back as Pete Hegseth. He grabbed a can of Bero, the non-alcoholic beer brand from actor Tom Holland, and introduced it as “Spider-Man's New Non-Alcoholic B--- Beer” before drinking it down, as described by Variety.

The sketch was staged as a strategy session for Republicans. Andrew Dismukes and Ashley Padilla played the strategists running the meeting, with Marcello Hernández appearing as Marco Rubio, Jeremy Culhane as Vice President JD Vance, Mikey Day as Mitch McConnell and James Austin Johnson as Donald Trump.

Jost stayed at the centre of the scene as Hegseth. He declared, “I'm putting the God back in war and it's working.” He later told viewers, “I need all you patriots at home to do the gayest thing ever and vote.”

Johnson got his own turn as Trump. He opened with “Let me cook.” He then joked about giving “$5,000 for every voter,” adding that it was not a bribe because he had no intention of doing it.

Day played McConnell as frozen in place. He gave only a peace sign for most of the sketch. Then he jumped in too early with an attempt at the show's signature “Live from New York” cue.

Dakota Johnson hosted the episode. Turnstile was the musical guest.