'SNL' Premiere Mocks Summer Blockbusters with Tucker Carlson Parody

*Saturday Night Live* delivered a memorable satirical moment during its season premiere, dropping a relentless parody of conservative media figure Tucker Carlson into the "Weekend Update" segment. Portrayed by performer Jeremy Culhane, the exaggerated commentator stopped by to voice his comical grievances over the summer's massive box-office hits while trading banter with anchor Colin Jost. The hilarious bit opened with Culhane's version of Carlson advising theatergoers to mute their mobile devices and abandon traditional faith values before settling into cinema seats. When Jost questioned whether the commentator had taken time out of his schedule to watch auteur director Christopher Nolan's epic project *The Odyssey* over the break, the spoofed pundit unleashed a bizarre rant against the film's premium projection format. Focusing his mock outrage on IMAX 70mm prints, Culhane poked fun at metric measurements, humorously framing millimeters as an unwanted replacement for standard inches. The absurd complaint set the stage for his sweeping evaluation of recent Hollywood releases.

Watch

Clips tied to this story.

▶Watch on YouTube

The sketch quickly shifted focus toward Marvel's theatrical output, specifically targeting Tom Holland's superhero project *Spider-Man: Brand New Day*. Channels of political satire reached full blast as Culhane applied modern talk-show rhetoric to the comic-book character, dubbing the movie "Spider-They, Spider-Them" while riffing on contemporary identity debates. Culhane also took playful aim at the real-life romance between Holland and his superstar co-star Zendaya. Pointing to news of the couple tying the knot earlier in the year, the fake commentator threw a dramatic tantrum after noting that Zendaya chose to keep her famous single name rather than taking her new husband's surname, even demanding that the studio audience cut their clapping short.

BUZZBEAT

Performer Jeremy Culhane took on the Tucker Carlson impression for the big premiere episode, leaning heavily into the commentator's trademark bewildered tone and dramatic facial expressions. Jost served as the steady foil at the news desk, allowing Culhane to steer the satirical commentary through a series of absurd pop-culture complaint points. The segment served as a double-edged lampoon of both right-wing commentary styles and massive Hollywood franchises. By filtering high-profile projects like Nolan's filmmaking standard and the Marvel Cinematic Universe through an over-the-top political lens, the long-running late-night comedy series kicked off its latest season with plenty of buzz.