Paul McCartney joins as musical guest.

Saturday Night Live recap: Host Will Ferrell opens season finale as Jeffrey Epstein

Paul McCartney joins as musical guest.

By Andy Hoglund

Andy Hoglund

Andy Hoglund is a writer at **. He has worked at EW since 2019.

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on May 16, 2026 11:55 p.m. ET

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Paul McCartney, Will Ferrell, and Marcello Hernandez promote 'Saturday Night Live'. Credit:

Hi! We made it! It's *SNL* in Review, the final episode of season 51. It's always both a marathon and a sprint, isn't it? Months of work, waiting, prep, followed by downtime, culminating in spurts of pressurized creativity. That's true for the 8H insiders, as it is for us.

And now, relief. Season finales always tend to have interesting energy, as a piece of televised live comedy, but also reading tea leaves on who will leave and who will stay. One day, that could include Lorne. Regardless of who departs after tonight, our lineup is a fitting swan song for *SNL* as it departs for summer hiatus. Will Ferrell hosts, back for the first time since 2019. He first joined the show as a cast member over 30 years ago. Isn't that incredible? Easily one of the best cast members ever. (He also had a great moment sparring with another top ten cast member, Eddie Murphy, during the 50th celebration.)

Next, the musical guest! Another legend — Paul McCartney. A Beatle! He has appeared on the show four times as a musical guest, beginning in 1980, where he actually premiered the "Coming Up" music video. He returned in 1993, appearing in a few sketches, including the iconic "Chris Farley Show." After a 17‑year gap, he came back in 2010 for the holiday episode, performing several classics. His most recent appearance was in 2012, featuring collaborations with Joe Walsh and the surviving members of Nirvana!

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I am joined tonight by, essentially, a McCartney scholar – former cast member Gary Kroeger. He's had several jaw-dropping firsthand encounters with Beatles over the years, including McCartney. Deep cut nerds (like me) will first recall that Gary's show tenure included an episode actually hosted by Ringo Starr! He says, "I was disappointed that Ringo wasn't the musical guest. Herbie Hancock was a great choice, but we had Ringo! Sure, he sang with Billy Crystal, but not seeing Ringo behind his kit was a disconnect as far as I was concerned. Ringo made it clear that he didn't want the show to be Beatle-themed, and maybe that set the tone. He did give me a drum lesson, however, backstage, that I'll never forget. And I still have his cigarette ashes from when he and Barbara came into my office.

Ah, yes — we are in the West Wing. James Austin Johnson is back as President Trump; his legs folded while he was in China. Jeremy Culhane reprises as JD Vance. Former cast member Patrick Weathers notes Peter Aykroyd loved Johnson's Trump.

Trump takes a nap. We hear Ferrell's voice. My first thought: he's back as Bush! But no, they fade him in, covered in chains à la *Christmas Carol*. Ferrell is playing Jeffrey Epstein. Weathers comments: "Christ! Will even manages to look like the guy. His voice for Epstein is great. He sounds like the Fonz!"

Epstein is here to show Trump the near future of the world he has wrought. We see Ashley Padilla as Kristi Noem six months from now — she's on QVC. Meanwhile, Colin Jost's Pete Hegseth is helping Aziz Ansari's Kash Patel with a beer bong. They are plugging hard water on a podcast. Weathers offers that while "Trump and Epstein are funny, I'm not PC, but I don't feel drunk jokes play well." Epstein and Trump sing "Just the Two of Us" to close out.

Cool to see Aziz back, people seem to genuinely enjoy his celeb casting here...

(Weathers has a new song coming out on Tuesday, folks. "Kelsey, Kelsey" — find it on Spotify!)

The monologue starts, and it's actually Chad Smith, drummer for the Red Hot Chili Peppers. He speaks, and I had to do a double-take. He looks remarkably like Ferrell. Will runs out, and stops him, outraged. He wants to do a hard reset. He feels weird and, lacking other ideas, takes questions from the audience. He chooses Sir Paul McCartney, who is confused: "What are you doing, Chad?!" Ferrell brings him on stage and rattles off a number of the singer's many classic songs. "McCartney is amazing. He's 83??" says Weathers. "Clever," he says as his verdict. I agree. Watch it! ("Will looks thin. You think he's been checking his A1C like everyone else?" says Weathers.)

"Get your ass behind the drums, Chad!" demands McCartney. Fun conclusion.

*Story developing...*

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Source: “EW SNL”