‘These men ain’t what?’ How SNL’s audience response left the cast in stitches

On a recent episode of Saturday Night Live’s “Weekend Update” segment, something unexpected happened that left everyone, including the cast, in stitches. 

During the segment, one of the talented SNL cast members, Ego Nwodim, prompted the audience to respond to a question, and what happened next was nothing short of shocking to the rest of the cast who were on stage with Nwodim.

The joke came after Eugene Daniels, the White House Correspondents’ Association president made a decision to no longer have comedian Amber Ruffin as a host at the White House Correspondent Dinner in order to avoid the focus being deterred by the “politics of division”. 

In response, the SNL cast members created a sketch where Nwodim appeared as a guest correspondent and presented her alter ego, Ms. Eggy, as a replacement for Ruffin, jokingly using the non-political humour that is sought by the WHCA board. 

During the sketch, you can see co-hosts Colin Jost and Michael Che bursting into laughter in the background when Nwodim asked the audience: “These men ain’t what?” followed by the audience shouting “s***” in unison, leaving the cast members stunned and in stitches.

The SNL cast was equally surprised by the audience’s response. Nwodim quickly tried to save the night and ad-libbed, “You finna get fined for that! Y’all gonna have to pay for that. Lorne’s gonna be mad at y’all,” she said in amusement.

The cast’s reactions ranged from shock to amusement, with the audience members laughing.

The Federal Communications Commission (FCC) might not be too happy about the unexpected profanity, hence the reaction from the cast mates. The agency is responsible for regulating indecent content on TV and radio, and they might impose fines on the show for the outburst.

According to "Deadline", the FCC could fine SNL because the swearing was aired on the East Coast TV broadcast and streamed on Peacock. The swearing has since been censored on clips posted on SNL’s social media.

But for now, the SNL audience’s unexpected response has become the talk of the town, as many viewers are still hyped about the moment on social media.

Fans took to X to share their reactions. Some were shocked, while others were impressed by the audience's creativity.

@elclass_king wrote: “The audience really said, ‘Men ain’t shit’, that’s an awesome moment in  #SNL history 😂. They all looked shocked that the audience legit said it.”

And @BoyandPiano commented: “You can go ahead and add tonight's Ego Nwodim Weekend Update bit to my all-time favorite #SNL moments.”

“The brilliance of this sketch is in what it subtly represents. Ego did a tongue in cheek takedown of the WHCD’s decision to not allow Amber Ruffin to host” @diondeezy said.

“Ego says through this sketch that they’d be more comfortable with a stereotypical ‘Def Comedy Jam’ style comedian,” he added.

SNL is a long-running American sketch comedy show that has been a staple since 1975. The show features a talented cast of comedians, actors and musicians who get invited to partake in tackling current events, politics, and pop culture moments in their sketches. 

Recently, the show celebrated 50 years of comedy with some of the old cast members recreating some of their old skits, bringing back the good memories.