The Academy Award nominee, who hosted the show this week, sparked waves of conversation across social media not only for his version of the disgraced financier and sex offender, but for reprising his character Kylo Ren in a Star Wars-themed “Undercover Boss” segment.
The first SNL of 2020 opened as Jon Lovitz’s Alan Dershowitz was rehearsing his arguments for the impeachment trial defense of President Donald Trump.
After referencing his “client and dear friend” Epstein, Lovitz’s Dershowitz tells Beck Bennett’s Senator Mitch McConnell and Cecily Strong’s Senator Susan Collins that “haters gonna hate” before appearing to suffer from heart issues and finding himself in front of Lucifer herself, played by Kate McKinnon.
“I just really wanted to meet you. I’m a huge fan,” the Devil says before assuring Dershowitz that he has not actually passed away. Moments later, Driver’s grey-haired Epstein pays them a visit.
“Look who it is, Jeffrey Epstein,” Dershowitz proclaims before asking why the recently-deceased billionaire was in hell. “Ah, just hangin’,” Epstein replies. “I gotta say I love what you’ve been doing for the president. All we get down here is Fox News, it’s been a joy to see you work.”
Playing to the conspiracy theory that Epstein’s death was not self-inflicted, Driver’s character tells Dershowitz that he would have been there in person, but “it’s too bad I was murdered!”
As the defense lawyer gets ready to leave the underworld, Alex Moffat’s version of Facebook CEO Mark Zuckerberg makes an appearance, attempting to fix the televisions in hell. He notes: “I just want everyone to know that I don’t endorse evil. I just help millions of people share it.”
Driver’s appearance as Epstein came after it emerged the real-world Dershowitz would play a role in President Trump’s impeachment defense team alongside Ken Starr. Both had ties to Epstein.
President Trump described in a tweet the ongoing impeachment proceedings as “a massive election interference the likes of which has never been seen before.”
On Twitter, Driver was widely praised for his comedic turn-in, with particular love shown to his deadpan portrayal of Kylo Ren going undercover at his own evil organization as “Randy,” an intern who says “OK, Boomer” at peers and “only” killed one of his new friends.
The prior SNL segment, “Undercover Boss: Starkiller Base,” was uploaded to YouTube in 2016 and has attracted more than 48 million views. The new video is currently trending on YouTube.