SNL’s Biden Gets Upstaged by Tian Tian the Panda in Cold Open

It was politics as usual once again on Saturday Night Live, as this week’s cold open took on the aftermath of Joe Biden’s (Mikey Day) long-awaited meeting with China’s president Xi Jinping. While the (real) president has confirmed that “real progress” was indeed made during his tête-à-tête with President Xi Jinping (or, as he calls him here, “President Roman Numeral Eleven”), he may have undone some of that goodwill when he called Xi a “dictator” following their meeting… then did it again. But this Biden tried to paint a sunnier picture.

“This meeting was a total win,” he claimed. “Sure, we made agreements about communications, fentanyl, climate change. But, most importantly, we got the thing America needs right now: More pandas!”

While the black-and-white bears are certainly a reason to celebrate, a Wall Street Journal reporter (Heidi Gardner) asked the question on everyone’s mind when she reminded the president that “China relations broke off this past year partly because you called President Xi a dictator… But your summit last week saw remarkable strides in mending that relationship. Would you like to completely undo your accomplishment by calling him a ‘dictator’ again?”

Read more at The Daily Beast.