Donald Trump ends shutdown for hamberders in 'SNL' game of 'Deal or No Deal'
The first "Saturday Night Live" of the new year opened with Donald Trump playing a game of "Deal or No Deal" -- in a bid to end the longest government shutdown in history.
"We decided to do this in the only format you understand: a TV game show with women holding briefcases," Kenan Thompson, playing host Steve Harvey, said. (Germaphobe regular host Howie Mandel shook someone's hand and got Ebola, he explained.)
The women -- and men -- holding briefcases actually ended up being members of the House of Representatives and Senate.
Trump, played as usual by Alec Baldwin, offered as part of Saturday's news to "release the kids from cages so they can be free-range kids."
He then picked a briefcase -- sorta.
"Five," Trump said. Harvey asked, "You want briefcase No. 5?"
"No, I'm saying a lot of these women are fives," he responded.
Nancy Pelosi, played by chameleon Kate McKinnon (who later in the show played Elizabeth Warren with aplomb), offered Trump "$1 billion and you say, 'Nancy's my mommy.'"
Trump answered "no deal."
"This is like two grandparents fighting over the thermostat," Harvey said.
Harvey encouraged Trump to pick another briefcase and "remember, every time you say no deal a half a million federal employees don't get paid."
He quickly responded "no deal."
And of course an impression of the newly seated Democrat Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez, played by Melissa Villaseñor, made its debut on "SNL."
"Is that Cardi B?" Trump asked.
"Trump and the GOP are just afraid of me because I'm under 100 and know how to use Instagram," she responded.
In the end, Trump called on a Clemson player, who offered "hamberders," a reference to the president's Twitter typo, and Trump took the deal to end the shutdown.
"I haven't eaten a hamberders in almost 15 minutes, Steve, I'm gonna make that deal," he said.
The Clemson football player, an apparent unnamed reference to long-haired quarterback Trevor Lawrence, was played by Pete Davidson. It was Davidson's first appearance in a sketch since his suicide scare in December. He appeared in a number of sketches, and "Weekend Update," throughout the show.
