‘Saturday Night Live’ Turns Around A “Breaking News” Cold Open Featuring Interview With The Fallen Chinese Balloon

Saturday Night Live quickly turned around a sketch that riffed on the U.S. military's takedown of the Chinese balloon earlier in the day Saturday, skewering the national obsession over suspected spy craft.

Just hours after cable news covered the missile strike that sent the balloon into ocean waters off the coast of South Carolina, SNL opened with its own news report on the latest development, featuring an MSNBC interview with the floating remains of the balloon, played by Bowen Yang.

"Well, I'm sorry you are in the water, but thank you for speaking to us," Katy Tur (Chloe Fineman) told the balloon.

But the indignant balloon responded, "I entertain you people for four days but then get shot down by Biden! I can't believe I'm Joe's Osama."

"What were you doing flying over Montana?" Tur asked.

The balloon answered, "I love the show Yellowstone . It's like Succession , but outside."

Tur then noted, "I'm actually surprised you're still floating. Experts were saying you're the size of three buses."

The balloon answered, "Okay. Ouch. I'm a balloon, so, that's my body. How would you like it if someone measured your width in buses? Sorry I am not camera ready ."

The clever segment worked, as it focused on a single news topic that dominated headlines and social media in recent days. It also has escalated international tensions, as Secretary of State Tony Blinken canceled a planned trip to Beijing.

The SNL skit opened with Tur's announcement, "Our long national nightmare is over. We got the balloon."

She told viewers, "The discovery of the massive surveillance balloon earlier this week inflamed already volatile U.S.-Chinese relations, and had many on the right calling the Biden administration's response soft, including this tweet from Donald Trump Jr. saying. 'If my Dad was president, there would be no balloons."

Tur then interviewed Pentagon official General William Hamilton (Kenan Thompson), who announced sternly, "We popped the balloon."

Tur then asked, "General, we have never seen an object like this gain entry into our airspace before. How did that happen?"

Hamilton answered, "That's an excellent question, Katy. The balloon was somehow able to get past our West Coast anti-balloon defense system — the Seattle Space Needle."

He then showed a 3D rendering of the balloon, actually a blow-up birthday party favor.

"I want everyone to know that we will not tolerate any form of Chinese spying," the general said. "But to be honest, they have everything they need from TikTok, so scroll away kids!"