Will Ferrell appeared as Jeffrey Epstein’s ghost on SNL’s 51st season finale. The cold open started with SNL’s JD Vance (Jeremy Culhane) and Donald Trump (James Austin Johnson) having a conversation after his China visit.

Trump told Vance, “I just flew home from China, and, boy, are my legs swollen. I’m sorry I didn’t take you with me to China, JD. I would have, but I didn’t want to.” Expressing how tired he was after the trip, Johnson’s Trump told Vance to leave and went to nap while placing his head on a gold brick he got as a bribe.

A dream sequence started, which had the themes of a Christmas Carol as Ferrell showed up as Epstein. Trump asked, “Who’s that? Who’s in here?” Ferrell’s Epstein impression is spot on as he replied, “Don’t worry, Donald. It’s me — your best friend, Jeffrey Epstein.” He continued, “So, how are you doing, Donny Baby?” Trump replied, “Not so good, Jeffie. My approval rating’s in the 30s.” Epstein made a joke to call him when the ratings hit 17.

Trump asked Epstein how he was doing in heaven, and he replied, “It’s really, really hot,” but he was busy with “Mahjong every Wednesday with Stalin and John Wayne Gacy.” At the end, Ferrell’s Epstein told Trump, “But, Donny, just remember, no matter how many wars you start or how bad you tank the economy as a distraction, people will always associate you. And that, my dear close friend, is a beautiful thing.”

The two also broke into a duet of “Just the Two of Us.” Apart from this, Ferrell also joked about former DHS secretary Kristi Noem, who was selling vacuum cleaners to clean up dog mess. This referred to her dog shooting controversy. Furthermore, there was Secretary of War Pete Hegseth (Colin Jost) and Kash Patel (Aziz Ansari) in one segment.

Hegseth was pouring alcohol into a beer bong that Patel was drinking from. Patel said, “Shoutout to our sponsor: my own personal line of cologne, ‘Incompetence for Men. Every bottle is full of my forehead sweat from my many Senate grillings. A smell so strong, it’ll cross your eyes.”

After the episode aired, MAGA supporters were not happy with it. One X user posted, “It’s clear these writers have Trump derangement syndrome. It will never be the same great show until they get past this. In the meantime, it will remain irrelevant with low ratings.”

However, many people liked the jokes, as one netizen commented, “Oh boy. Trump is gonna scream that you’re fired, America!! And that all comedy be banned along with Christmas too!” In the past, Trump has asked for Jimmy Kimmel’s show to be cancelled over his jokes about him. Another skeptical user pointed out, “Is this funny?? It is propaganda, but it is not funny. At least try harder.”

Another one posted that SNL could have done better, “Just lame! This is the best SNL could do? The China trip had so many opportunities, and this is the best you could think of? Dredge up, Kristi Noem! No Edge! Just the same old political hackery! LAME!”