The March 1 cold open of “Saturday Night Live,” or “SNL,” which spoofed the combative meeting between President Donald Trump and Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy, featured an imitation of Northeastern first-year Edward Coristine, who was identified as an engineer for Elon Musk’s Department of Government Efficiency last month.
The skit opened with returning Trump impersonator James Austin Johnson introducing himself as “President and CEO of Gaza Hotel and Casino,” a reference to an AI-generated video the president posted Feb. 26 on his social media accounts spreading his vision for the transformation of Gaza. The first half of the skit included Mikey Day as a frustrated Zelenskyy, a flamboyant JD Vance played by Bowen Yang and a nonverbal Marco Rubio, portrayed by Marcello Hernández.
Before Coristine’s character, portrayed by Andrew Dismukes, appears, Elon Musk — played by veteran “SNL” actor Mike Myers — rushes in with a chainsaw, dressed casually in Musk’s signature dark jeans and blazer, complete with a T-shirt that reads “Tech Support.” The skit goes on to satirize the mass layoffs of federal workers, backed by Trump and Musk’s Department of Government Efficiency, or DOGE.
“I mean, we’re not going to get it perfect,” Musk’s character said of the layoffs. “We are firing the non-essential employees, like air traffic controllers.”
As Musk’s and Trump’s characters went back and forth on budget cuts and plane collisions, Zelenskyy’s character stared at the camera with a stern look on his face.
“Yes, and sure, some of the planes are going to land upside down. But then the luggage falls right into your lap, and you’re ready to go. It’s efficient,” Trump’s character said. “And Elon’s got this incredible team of professionals, like a 19-year-old who’s known as ‘Big Balls.’”
Dismukes entered around the cold open’s six-minute mark as Coristine. Wearing a blue DOGE sweatshirt and wielding a laptop, Coristine’s character saluted Musk’s character and said, “Yo, reporting for dookie, sir.”
“Big Balls” is a reference to Coristine’s LinkedIn account, which was widely shared after a Feb. 2 WIRED article identified him among a group of 20-somethings as engineers for DOGE. On Coristine’s newly public X account, he posted Feb. 10 about his acceptance of a job in the State Department with the hashtag “#BIGBALLS.”
“And, Big Balls, you’ve been doing some awesome DOGE stuff. Right, Big Balls?” Trump’s character said.
“Oh, for sure,” Coristine’s character said. “This week, I fired a Black general and a woman admiral. It was awesome.”
This was in reference to Trump’s firing of Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff Gen. Charles Q. Brown Jr. — who was the second Black general to serve as chairman — after 16 months in the position. The latter was in reference to the firing of Adm. Lisa Franchetti, who served as the chief of naval operations.
“And, in addition to DOGE, we’ve started another initiative, called the Department of Undoing Child Healthcare and Education, or DOUCHE,” Coristine’s character said.
“DOUCHE is going to be epic,” Musk’s character said. “DOUCHE is going to really clean everything out.”
The skit ended, as is tradition for a cold open, with the cast huddling together and exclaiming, “Live from New York, it’s Saturday night.”
