Saturday Night Live Tackles Roe v. Wade As Benedict Cumberbatch Returns To Host

Benedict Cumberbatch is back!

The 45-year-old actor returned to host Saturday Night Live for the second time over the weekend. While Benedict is known for his more dramatic work, he sure proved once again just how incredibly hilarious he can be!

Unsurprisingly, the sketch comedy show kicked off the episode by tackling one of the biggest bombshells that dropped this year: the leaked Supreme Court draft opinion, which threatens to overturn Roe v. Wade and thus puts abortion and reproductive rights in danger. The cold open begins with a voiceover mocking Supreme Court Justice Samuel Alito for citing a 13th-century English law as part of their reasoning. Then, Benedict pops up in a full medieval ensemble and bowl haircut speaking with two other mean about abortion, as well as bringing up some of the other wild things people actually believe:

“While I was cleaning the side of the castle while we poop…I started to think about abortion. We should make a law that will stand the test of time, so hundreds and hundreds of years from now, they will go back and say, ‘no need to update this one, they nailed it in 1235.’”

Cecily Strong as a 12-year-old and Kate McKinnon as an “old crone” in her 30s joined in on the sketch. The whole bit was a must-see moment of the night! Ch-ch-check it out (below):

Later on in the show, Kate stopped by the “Weekend Update” to debut her impression of Supreme Court Justice Amy Coney Barrett and take aim at her questions during oral arguments reportedly about safe-haven laws, which protects people for giving up newborn children. Kate’s Barrett states at one point:

“I just don’t understand why you need an abortion. You can leave a baby anywhere in the United States. Just plop it! On a sidewalk? Plop it. Like Moses in a basket? Plop it. Like an infant in Jungle Book? ‘Do your nine,’ and then plop that baby and give it to a panther. You are a murderer if you have an abortion, but you are not a murderer if you put a baby in a bag in a mailbox. That tracks and is good to me…”

SNL was not afraid to go there! Anchors Colin Jost and Michael Che also dedicated most of their time slamming the Supreme Court draft opinion in another part of the “Weekend Update,” which you can also watch (below):

Moving on…

Another big story of the year SNL could not resist in poking fun at yet again? The infamous Oscars slap from Will Smith, of course. In his opening monologue, Benedict immediately started off with a quip about the controversy by talking about his Oscar nomination for his role in The Power of the Dog:

“I really am thrilled to be back hosting Saturday Night Live. It’s been a really fun, great week. I have to be honest though, because most of the sketch writers pitched me sketches every day, and most were about Doctor Strange. Which is great, I love the guy, I love playing the character… but I have been in other films.”

The Marvel star then joked that executive producer Lorne Michaels asked him:

“‘Like what?’ And I said, ‘Well, like The Power of the Dog.’ And he said, ‘Nobody saw it,'” Cumberbatch recalled. “I said, ‘Come on, man, I was nominated for an Oscar for that.’ I mean, I didn’t win. I was beat by Will Smith.”

Damn! He quickly added:

“No, not physically! Not physically.”

Couldn’t resist another jab, huh, SNL? LOLz! Changing the subject, Benedict then shared some sweet and hilarious messages for his mom and his wife, Sophie Hunter. See what he had to say (below):

Elsewhere in the night, cast member Chloe Fineman got the chance to show her stuff in a segment called “The Understudy,” where she proved she could perfectly impersonate anyone in the cast and Elizabeth Olsen. Watch her skills shine (below):

As for the musical guest? Arcade Fire returned to Studio 8H for the fifth time, performing two tracks from their new album We. The rockers first delivered a stellar performance of The Lightning I, II. At the end, lead singer Will Butler grabbed the mic to express his opinion on Roe v. Wade potentially being overturned, saying: