Ladies and Gentlemen, Will Ferrell! (It’s Chad Smith)
In the star-studded SNL Season Finale, the monologue begins with giggles from the audience as Red Hot Chilli Peppers drummer, Chad Smith, imitates Will Ferrell–a play on the long-running joke of their resemblance.
Ferrell runs on stage in peril–Smith is wearing an identical suit, with hair styled the same way. Humourously, Ferrell states, ‘He pushed me down backstage, and I fell hard.’
Contrary to Smith’s claim as being the musical guest, and still in a state of disarray after doppelgänger-gate, Ferrell cuts to the audience to reveal the real musical guest, Paul McCartney, who joins in on the joke, ‘What do you think you’re doing, Chad?’ (referring to Ferrell).
The audience cheers in admiration of Paul as Will invites him onstage and lists off a long wrap sheet of some of the songwriter’s greatest hits, joking, though, that he didn’t write the alphabet song or ‘Timber’ featuring Pitbull. The monologue ends as Smith comes back on stage to introduce the show.
Later, McCartney performs ‘Band on the Run,’ ‘Coming Up’ & ‘Days We Left Behind’, the lead single from his upcoming album, The Boys of Dungeon Lane (out May 29).
The musician also puts his comedic timing to the test by popping up in a skit where he plays an auto mechanic alongside Ferrell and Marcello Hernández. McCartney (badly) imitates car sounds with his mouth, and Hernández tries not to break as he follows with his lines.
In another skit for the Season finale, Ferrell controversially revives the ghost of Jeffrey Epstein in a cold case and calls Donald Trump, ‘Donny, baby.’ Making references to the nature of the Epstein scandal and Trump’s ties with him, the audience gasps and laughs in reaction to the jokes.
The political satire will either have you laughing or cringing, but ultimately, Ferrell did what he does best: entertain.
