On ‘Saturday Night Live,’ Quinta Brunson mocks ‘Friends’ compared to ‘Abbott Elementary’

Quinta Brunson hosted Saturday Night Live last night, and the Emmy Award-winner wasted no time taking a shot at another famous sitcom.

“I have a show called Abbott Elementary, and it’s kind of unique,” Brunson joked during her opening monologue. “It’s a network show, like say Friends. Except instead of being about a group of friends, it’s about a group of teachers. And instead of New York, it’s in Philadelphia. And instead of not having Black people, it does.”

Brunson plays second-grade teacher Janine Teagues in the Philadelphia-based sitcom, and cited her mother — former Philly kindergarten teacher Norma Jean Brunson — and all teachers during her monologue. She also showed a video of a “guy” she went out to dinner with, which happened to be former President Barack Obama, who recorded a message praising Brunson’s mother.

“We’re really proud of you, not only obviously because you were a great mom, because you are a teacher – the most important job there is,” Obama said in the video.

Brunson grew up a huge fan of Saturday Night Live (she cited Upper Darby-native Tina Fey’s influence in an interview with NBC) and wasn’t afraid to mix it up. Over the course of the night she played a coke-slinging drug dealer, a baby-birthing doctor, and a balding middle-manager obsessed with a co-worker’s body.

The skit that got the largest laughs involved Brunson shouting back and forth in a traffic-induced road-rage incident with cast members Mikey Day and Chloe Fineman.

One surprise is the episode passed on the chance to riff on Abbott Elementary, and outside of Brunson’s monologue, the show didn’t feature much Philadelphia flair. Though Weekend Update co-host Michael Che took a shot at the city over the recent scare involving drinking water following a chemical spill last weekend.

“Philadelphia official say the city’s drinking water is finally safe, unless it’s being handed to you by this Philadelphian,” Che joked as they showed a photo of Bill Cosby.

The most authentic moment of the night came in the show’s closing moments. Brunson, the cast, and musical guest Lil Yachty were on stage for the show’s traditional goodnight to the audience. But Brunson just kept thanking people, and ran so long she was cut off before everyone was able to celebrate.

To open the show, Saturday Night Live tackled the indictment of former President Donald Trump by featuring cast member James Austin Johnson singing parody songs to raise money from gullible supporters.

“I don’t want anything from my base except their love, their voted, perhaps their money,” Johnson’s Trump joked. “And I need their money more than ever.”

This is the 48th season of Saturday Night Live, and next week former cast member Molly Shannon will host the show for the second time since departing in 2001. On April 15, the guest host will be Ana de Armas, who was nominated for an Academy Award for her portrayal of Marilyn Monroe in Blonde.

Ahead of the show, a bit of Abbott Elementary news broke: Empire star Taraji P. Henson will make her debut as Janine’s mother during the show’s April 12 episode, which is appropriately titled “Mom.” The season finale of Abbott Elementary airs on ABC on April 19.