Saturday Night Live’s 51st season finale featured show legend and episode host Will Ferrell appearing as the ghost of Jeffrey Epstein to sing a duet with President Donald Trump, played by cast member James Austin Johnson.
The Cold Open Sketch
The sketch opened with Trump waking from a nap in the Oval Office to find Ferrell dressed as a Dickensian, Jacob Marley-like ghost. The two reminisced and joked about their past association.
“How’s heaven?” Johnson’s Trump asked.
“Really, really hot,” Ferrell replied. “How are your approval ratings?”
Johnson responded they are “in the 30s.”
“Gross!” Ferrell’s Epstein said. “Call me when they’re 17.”
Trump’s relationship with Epstein has been a persistent issue during his second term, though the president has consistently denied any wrongdoing and characterized efforts to release related documents as a politically motivated “hoax.” Trump has acknowledged knowing Epstein but maintains their friendship ended before Epstein’s conviction for solicitation of prostitution with a minor.
“Man, we had some fun times together, didn’t we Donny?” Ferrell said.
“No, it’s really bad that we took any,” Johnson replied.
Visions of the Future
Ferrell offered to show Johnson “visions of the future,” revealing where administration officials would be in six months. Former Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem, played by Ashley Padilla, appeared selling Shark Wand vacuum cleaners on the Home Shopping Network, joking it was “the best way to clean up that mess your dog made … besides a gun.”
Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth, played by Colin Jost, then appeared pouring a “giant beer bong” for FBI director Kash Patel, played by Aziz Ansari, on the “Kashcast” podcast. Patel was selling a cologne made from sweat from his Senate hearings, while Hegseth promoted “Poland Sprung,” described as “the first-ever hard water.”
The Duet
Back in the Oval Office, Ferrell told Johnson that “people will always associate you with me … my dear, close friend, that is a beautiful thing,” echoing an alleged birthday letter from Trump to Epstein that the president has denied sending. The sketch closed with the pair singing a duet of “Just the Two of Us” by Bill Withers and Grover Washington Jr.
