Colin Jost reprised his role as Secretary of Defense Pete Hegseth on SNL on Feb. 28, 2026.
Early Saturday morning, President Donald Trump, in cooperation with Israeli forces order a strike on Iran. Shortly thereafter, a senior Israeli official confirmed that one of the strikes caused the death of Iran’s Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei.
The ‘SNL’ Scene
During the SNL cold open, James Austin Johnson’s Trump delivers remarks and proclaims, “Happy World War III to all who celebrate!” He goes on to say he attacked Iran because he and his “Board of Peace decided that we were bored of peace and because he needed help distracting from the Epstein files.”
He continued, “I know on the campaign trail I promised no new foreign wars. But listen: Wars, plural, right? I’m allowed to do one.
“People are asking, ‘Why attack Iran now?’ Well, we had to strike in the early hours of Saturday, which has two advantages militarily: One, it’s after the stock market closes for the weekend, and two, it’s to cause immeasurable fear, rage, and chaos in the ‘SNL‘ writer’s room. Those guys were going crazy. They probably had a big State of the Union address thing they were going to do. Not anymore!”
Then, he introduced Hegseth as “the man I’m going to blame [the invasion of Iran] on when it doesn’t work.”
Enter a sauntering Jost as Hegseth with “What’s up, dillweeds?” to the crowd. “As you probably heard, Operation Epic Fury is underway. And as you can tell from the veins on my neck, I’m pumped.”
“I am scared, and I don’t know what I’m doing. When [Trump] said we were going to blow up the leader of Iran, I thought he was kidding.” Soon, Jost’s secretary regained his composure and told reporters in the crowd, “Bottom line, all of you should be thanking us.”
He continued in the skit, arguing the U.S. military eliminated “a horrendous, horrible leader who was oppressing his own people.”
Trump then added, “But don’t get any ideas!”
The cold open kicked off the first new episode after a month-long hiatus. It was also the return to the show’s typical format to begin with a Trump spoof.
The previous episode, which aired on Jan. 31, hosted by Alexander Skarsgard, did not feature Johnson’s Trump portrayal. Former cast member Pete Davidson returned to play Tom Homan, White House border czar, instead.
The Rest of the Episode
Connor Storrie hosted the episode, coming off the success of “Heated Rivalry.” The show is a hockey romance series on HBO Max. The show launched Storrie into stardom. He made his debut on late-night television in a January interview on “Late Night With Seth Meyers.”
During his monologue, Storrie brought out brothers and members of Team USA’s men’s hockey team, Jack and Quinn Hughes, who said they were too busy to watch the show.
Quinn said, “It’s about hockey, right?” Storrie replied, “Kind of.”
Jack said, “I got my teeth knocked out in the finals, does that happen in your show/” Storrie replied, “Metaphorically,” with a knowing smirk.
The host said he hoped “some hockey players watched it,” and entered Team USA women’s hockey players Megan Keller and Hilary Knight to roaring applause.
Keller stated, “Don’t worry, we saw your show.” Knight joked, “It was gonna be just us who joined Storried on SNL, but we thought we’d invite the guys too.”
Keller added, “Yeah, we thought we’d give them a little moment to shine.”
Musical guest Mumford & Sons joined Storrie and the cast for the episode.
Next ‘SNL’ Host
Next week, Ryan Gosling will host the comedy sketch show for the fourth time. Gorillaz join him as musical guests.
The following week, on March 14, Harry Styles will be working double duty as host and musical guest.
Sources:
Rolling Stone: ‘SNL’Weekend Update Uses Trump’s Own Words Against Him on Iran War
USA Today: ‘SNL’ takes on Iran attacks and Khamenei killing in cold open
The Daily Beast: ‘SNL’s’ Jost Humiliates ‘Scared’ Hedseth WIth Brutal Takedown
Featured Image Courtesy of Anthony Quintano’s Flickr Page – Creative Commons License
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