SNL roasts Trump over Nobel miss while skewering Hegseth execution stream idea

"Saturday Night Live" found plenty of material in Washington this weekend. The show poked fun at President Donald Trump for losing out on the Nobel Peace Prize and went after Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth over a plan to put an execution online.

Weekend Update goes after the White House

Colin Jost and Michael Che spent part of Saturday's "Weekend Update" desk on the administration. Jost zeroed in on how frustrated Trump seemed about being passed over for the prize while he keeps pointing to his record on overseas conflicts.

From there Jost aimed at the award and the people who choose the winner. He used the snub to chip away at the image of Trump as a peacemaker.

A darker turn

The jokes got grimmer once the anchors moved to Hegseth. He has reportedly floated streaming the execution of Nidal Hasan online. Hasan is the ex-Army psychiatrist who got a death sentence over the 2009 Fort Hood attack. Thirteen people were killed in that shooting and 31 more were hurt.

The idea of airing an execution has sparked questions about whether the death penalty is being turned into a show. Che leaned hard into that bleak setup.

The cold open

Earlier in the night Jost played a pumped-up Hegseth. He wore a bandolier of Fireball whiskey bottles aboard the USS Abraham Lincoln and caught the sailors up on everything they missed while they were away.

James Austin Johnson also dropped in as Health and Human Services Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr. He nailed the voice and showed off big forearms.

Washington stays in the punchlines

Between the Nobel letdown, the execution plan and the Pentagon refresh, the show made it clear that politics is still prime material for late-night comedy. The White House has not responded to a request for comment.