'SNL' Relentlessly Mocks Joe Biden's Age, Mike Johnson in Cold Open

Saturday Night Live (SNL) took aim at both President Joe Biden and the new speaker of the House Mike Johnson as actor Christopher Walken returned to the show.

With just a few days to go until Halloween, Mikey Day's Biden was seen decorating the Oval Office with spooky decorations during the cold open, while also lampooning the president's way of talking and his age.

"I'm not out of breath, I'm just excited because Halloween is the greatest holiday in the world," Day said.

"Here's the bottom line. [The] world is a pretty scary place right now; war, shootings, climate change, everything, and the new Britney [Spears] book. It's why I want to put everyone at ease and nothing puts people at ease like an 80-year-old man hanging Halloween decorations."

Day then invited viewers to join him in celebrating the festivities as he prepared to climb a foldable ladder to put up a bat decoration, notably without anyone else in the room to steady him while he carried out his task.

"Relax, I'm not going to fall," Day said in an attempt to reassure the audience. But as he climbed higher up, the ladder started to visibly shake.

The president then decided he would put up the decoration later and explained the ladder was "cutting-edge technology" when he was a child, once again mocking Biden's, age. At 77, he was the oldest person to be elected to the country's highest office.

Newsweek has contacted the White House for comment via email.

Day's Biden then walked over to a severed arm decoration and then admitted it was not a prop but was, in fact, real.

"Oh shoot, oh no," he said. "That's not a decoration, that's an arm our dog Commander ripped off a Secret Service agent."

The German shepherd has bitten Secret Service agents in the past, including a November 2022 incident where an officer was hospitalized after the dog clamped its jaws around their arms and thighs.

Day went on to say that some of his closest friends were ghosts and encouraged viewers to stay positive, noting the reduction in crime and unemployment during his presidency.

He also mentioned how the stock market was also down. "Well, two out of three ain't bad," Day said.

Biden then seemed thrilled that an aide was finally on hand to help him put up his final Halloween decorations, only for it to be revealed that the person entering the Oval Office was new House Speaker Mike Johnson, played by Michael Longfellow.

"Anyway, I'm now second-in-line to replace you, so I'm excited to see more of this whole ladder thing," Longfellow said after stating his name.

The real-life Johnson, a Republican representative from Louisiana, finally ended weeks of deadlock in Congress when he replaced former Speaker Kevin McCarthy on Wednesday.

His election to the position led to renewed attention being focused on his southern Baptist beliefs, which underpin his strong opposition to abortion and same-sex marriage. The show also featured Johnson's adopted Black son, Michael.

Johnson's Communications Director Corrine Day previously told Newsweek that he and his wife Kelly took Michael in as newlyweds when the child was 14 years old. He is now an adult with a family of his own.

SNL pounced on this renewed attention on Johnson's family and had Longfellow's version of the House speaker introduce his son Michael, portrayed by Devon Walker.

"Hey guys, I'm his adult Black son," Walker said. "I'm only 11 years younger than him and I'm kind of a secret. It's normal, don't look into that at all."

Newsweek has contacted Johnson's office for comment via email.

"I don't know exactly what that was but, hey, it's a confusing time," Day said after the pair left. "I just wish someone could explain the true meaning of Halloween."

Just as Day made the request, in stepped Academy Award-winning actor Christopher Walken as the spirit of Halloween.

Walken declared himself the Ghost of All Hallows Past, a character that appeared to be based on English author Charles Dickens' Ghost of Christmas Past from his A Christmas Carol novella.

He then explained that the importance of the holiday was camaraderie before reeling off a number of Halloween rhymes. It was Walken's first appearance on SNL since April 2008.