Kevin Durant To New York Knicks, Adam Sandler’s Opera Man Demands

Adam Sandler returned Saturday to host Saturday Night Live for the first time since his departure from the show in 1995. The evening had much nostalgia, per The Inquisitr, including a song about the time he was fired, a musical tribute to his late friend and fellow cast member Chris Farley, and a sketch featuring a family of Sandler impersonators.

Sandler also brought back one of his recurring characters, Opera Man, for the first time in nearly a quarter century. In the bit, which was usually performed on the Weekend Update segment during the era of Kevin Nealon as anchor, Sandler sings about current news topics, in the style of opera.

On the Saturday segment, Sandler-as-Opera Man sang about the NBA playoffs, specifically the moment in which the Houston Rockets’ James Harden was poked in the eye by the Golden State Warriors’ Draymond Green in Game 2 of their Eastern Conference playoff series last week.

In stating that Harden had cried after the poke, the line ended with the rhyme “He say Beardie kicks/Just wait ’til Durant/Come to the Knicks!” Sandler then broke character for a second and said “Please, Kevin! And bring Kyrie!”

Durant, who has been with the Warriors for the last three years, is eligible to become a free agent this off season, and it’s been widely speculated that he might sign with the Knicks, a team that has been struggling for many years, and has very rarely had success in adding free agent stars. But an NBC Sports Bay Area report last month called it “inevitable” that both Durant and Kyrie Irving, currently with the Boston Celtics, will make the move to New York this summer.

Kevin Durant to the #Knicks is reportedly a done deal already. #NBA #NBATwitter pic.twitter.com/zbpw4NDY0z

— Warriors Nation (@WarriorNationCP) April 26, 2019

Despite growing up in New Hampshire, Sandler roots for New York sports teams, including the Yankees and Jets, as well as the Knicks. The actor was born in Brooklyn, graduated from NYU, and lived in New York during his SNL years.

Also in the segment, Opera Man made fun of the new Seth Rogen/Charlize Theron romantic comedy Long Shot, noting that its premise of a goofy man getting together with a beautiful woman reminds him of some of Sandler’s past movies.

Rogen, on Twitter, responded by writing that “Operaman making a joke about me is maybe the most amazing thing that’s ever happened to me. Holy [expletive] what an insane honor.”

While Sandler had never hosted Saturday Night Live before, he has returned on a couple of occasions for reunion and anniversary specials.