Saturday Night Live (SNL) lampooned President Donald Trump's perceived obsession with the Nobel Peace Prize and Secretary of Defense Pete Hegseth's hawkish foreign policy views in its cold open on the first episode of 2026. The sketch addressed the recent U.S. military intervention in Venezuela and South Dakota Governor Kristi Noem's controversial reaction to an Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) shooting in Minneapolis.

The show's satirical take on current events leveraged a faux Trump news conference and cabinet meeting format. Colin Jost portrayed Secretary of Defense Hegseth, depicting him as advocating for aggressive U.S. foreign policy. According to Variety, Jost's Hegseth character promised the "USA is going to f---" countries around the world. Jeremy Culhane played Vice President.

The episode marked SNL's return after a holiday break, capitalizing on a wealth of political developments. The cold open also targeted Governor Noem's response to the ICE shooting, though details of that specific parody were not elaborated upon in the source material.

SNL, a late-night comedy institution, has a history of impacting public discourse through its political satire. While the show's immediate financial impact is limited to NBC's advertising revenue, its sketches often generate significant social media engagement and influence public perception of political figures and events. The show's ability to capture and amplify public sentiment can indirectly influence market confidence and investor behavior, particularly in sectors sensitive to geopolitical risk.