Saturday Night Live and host Jason Sudeikis put a Halloween spin on the cold open this week by reminding us all how frightening it is to be haunted by your younger self.
The opening sketch begins with President Biden, played by new SNL cast member James Austin Johnson, lamenting his sagging approval ratings to White House Press Secretary Jen Psaki, parodied by Chloe Fineman. "Things are gonna turn around, right?" SNL Biden asks his press sec, only for Fineman's Psaki to say she's "bad at lying, so I'm gonna leave."
"I don't understand. People used to like me," Biden continues, after Fineman's departure. "I miss the old me. Where the hell did that guy go?"
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Right on cue, in walks a finger gun and aviator-clad Sudeikis playing a jovial and confident version of the commander in chief from eight years ago, when he was still just the vice president and had the "easiest gig in the world."
"How can you be me? You seem so happy, so carefree, so...what's the word I'm looking for?" asks 2021 Biden. "Lucid," Sudeikis' Biden quickly replies.
From there, the two Bidens discuss how social norms have changed over the last eight years, Sens. Joe Manchin (D-W.Va.) and Kyrsten Sinema (D-Ariz.), and how former President Donald Trump "ruined everything." Shortly after, another older (but still confident) version of Biden walks through the Oval Office door, this time played by cast member Alex Moffat. When Sudeikis asks which era he's traveling from, Moffat happily replies, "March 2021" before heading out.
Soon, it's time for 2013 Biden to leave, but not before imparting some wisdom on Biden of the present: "Remember, we may be from different eras, but at the end of the day, we're both Joe freakin' Biden."
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