Jason Sudeikis made his hosting debut on Saturday Night Live this weekend – returning to Studio 8H for the first time since he left the show in 2013.
In the episode’s cold open, Sudeikis reprised one of his more memorable recurring characters, then-Vice President Joe Biden.
“I don’t understand. People used to like me. The press would call me ‘Uncle Joe’. I miss the old me. Where the hell did that guy go,” James Austin Johnson’s President Biden asked, before Sudeikis sauntered in as “the Ghost of Biden Past.”
“Where I am from, we are still VP,” Sudeikis explained. “Easiest gig in the world. We’re like America’s wacky neighbor, you know. Just pop in with an ice cream cone, some aviator shades, finger guns. Shake a few hands and rub a few shoulders.”
The skit ends with Vice President Biden trying to counsel President Biden, with Sudeikis telling Johnson: “You are me. I want you to stand tall. I want you to flash those 100% natural choppers we got. And remember. We may be from different eras. But at the end of the day we are both Joe freakin’ Biden.”
Sudeikis’ return to SNL comes eight years after he left the show. In this week’s opening monologue, he talked about what life has been like for him since, even sharing his advice on how to get Lorne Michaels to notice the current cast members.
“Honestly, swear to God, I found myself just giving the same advice to every single person. I was like, ‘Win an Emmy.’” he joked.
2021 has been a banner year for Sudeikis, who scored multiple Emmy Awards for Ted Lasso, his hit Apple TV+ series in which he plays the titular soccer coach.
