SNL: Dana Carvey Reprises “Church Lady,” David Spade Appears as Hunter Biden

Saturday Night Live‘s latest episode kicked off with a cold open fitting its 50th season as returning cast member Dana Carvey reprised one of his iconic characters, The Church Lady. Carvey’s Church Lady began the segment calling 2024 “the most satanic year in history,” before throwing some trademark jabs at the likes of Wicked and Sabrina Carpenter. As one might expect, some familiar faces appeared alongside Carvey’s Church Lady in the segment with guests including Sarah Sherman as former congressman Matt Gaetz, plus David Spade as Hunter Biden, and Marcello Hernandez as Juan Soto.

Some of The Church Lady’s best jokes in the segment include:

• On Wicked, “It’s just like The Wizard of Oz but instead of saying ‘Lions, Tigers, and Bear, Oh My!’ They say ‘Lions, Tigers, and Sluts, oh yes!’”
• On Sabrina Carpenter; “You know who was the best carpenter? Jesus,” and “He’s working late, cause he’s a Savior…”
• On Sherman’s Matt Gaetz, “It looks like your forehead is trying to go to heaven without you.”

• On Spade’s Hunter Biden, “Pardon you? Who do you think I am, your daddy?”
• On Hernandez’s Juan Soto, “I hear they’re going to pay you $700 million to smack some balls around with your big stick. We love to hit a baseball and make more money than Jesus.”

Check out the full segment yourself below!

The Church Lady made her first appearance on Saturday Night Live in the October 11, 1986 episode, quickly becoming a fan-favorite and reaching recurring status soon after. In season 12 of Saturday Night Live, Carvey would portray The Church Lady in eight episodes. In the years that followed, from 1987 to 1990, Carvey would only put on the wig and glasses ten more times before departing Saturday Night Live in 1993. When Carvey returned to SNL as a host in 1996, 2000, and 2011, he appeared as The Church Lady in all three episodes.

Carvey’s appearance as The Church Lady in tonight’s episode of Saturday Night Live marks the first time he’s played the role in eight years. The last time that Carvey reprised his iconic character was in a Weekend Update segment with Colin Jost back in 2016. Carvey appeared as The Church Lady six months prior in May of 2016 as well, with these two surprise appearances marking just the third time in the 2010s that he would play the character. So far tonight’s episode of Saturday Night Live marks the first time Carvey has played The Church Lady in this decade.