Saturday Night Live royalty Mike Myers returned to the sketch comedy series this weekend to poke fun at one of him most awkward moments from live television.
The 61-year-old Wayne’s World star dropped by for a sketch in which Kenan Thompson, 47, played a version Kanye West that didn’t depart far his current antics.
Myers found himself stuck in an elevator alone with Kanye 20 years after he was famously caught by surprise when West said that ‘George [W.] Bush doesn’t care about Black people’ during an impromptu speech on a live telethon raising funds for victims of Hurricane Katrina in 2005.
Myers’ shocked expression at the rapper’s statement decades ago became the fodder of memes, though he later said he was ‘very proud to have been next to’ West when he made his surprise statement.
Though the comedian shared his support for West’s claims that the federal government wasn’t responding to the plight of stranded Black people in the same way it would have responded for white people affected by Katrina, he made it clear that he wasn’t a fan of West’s current persona.
In Saturday’s sketch — which also included a joke about Sean ‘Diddy’ Combs’ ongoing trial — Mike played himself getting into an elevator, which was already populated by the season 50 finale’s guest host Scarlett Johansson and Marcello Hernandez, who both played shocked fans excited to see the comedy icon.
Saturday Night Live royalty Mike Myers, 61, returned to the sketch comedy series this weekend to poke fun at one of him most awkward moments from live television with Kenan Thompson, 47, playing a version Kanye West
![Myers found himself stuck in an elevator alone with Kanye 20 years after he was famously caught by surprise when West said that 'George [W.] Bush doesn't care about Black people' during an impromptu speech on a live telethon raising funds for victims of Hurricane Katrina](https://www.americanpolibeat.com/wp-content/uploads/2025/05/Kanye-West-is-savaged-as-Mike-Myers-returns-to-Saturday.jpeg)
Myers found himself stuck in an elevator alone with Kanye 20 years after he was famously caught by surprise when West said that ‘George [W.] Bush doesn’t care about Black people’ during an impromptu speech on a live telethon raising funds for victims of Hurricane Katrina
But after Marcello got off the elevator and Scarlett confessed that she and her girlfriends ‘quote Shrek all the time’ — and Myers quipped, ‘That’s a little weird’ — suddenly Thompson’s version of Kanye West stepped on the elevator.
‘Oh, my God. Is that Kanye West?!’ the panicked Austin Powers star said as Thompson entered the elevator.
Johansson’s character immediately got off, and Myers called out to her: ‘You can’t leave me alone in here with him!’
Thompson was dressed in West’s current uniform with a black shirt, matching sunglasses and what looked like a prosthetic in his mouth to stand in for West’s $850,000 titanium smile, the result of permanent ‘fixed prosthodontics.’
The two then awkwardly reminisced over their time together on screen at the Hurricane Katrina fundraiser, when Myers didn’t even know who West was.
The Love Guru star ‘had to stand there looking stupid,’ Thompson said of the cringey TV moment.
The sketch featured repeated jokes about and allusions to West’s stream of antisemitic statements in recent years.
‘So what have you been up to?’ Myers said as he tried to make some small talk.
Myers’ shocked expression at the rapper’s statement decades ago became the fodder of memes, though he later said he was ‘very proud to have been next to’ West when he made his surprise statement
In Saturday’s sketch, Mike played himself getting into an elevator, which was already populated by the season 50 finale’s guest host Scarlett Johansson and Marcello Hernandez, who both played shocked fans excited to see the comedy icon
But after Marcello got off the elevator and Scarlett confessed that she and her girlfriends ‘quote Shrek all the time’ — and Myers quipped, ‘That’s a little weird’ — suddenly Thompson’s version of Kanye West stepped on the elevator
‘Oh, my God. Is that Kanye West?!’ the panicked Austin Powers star said as Thompson entered the elevator. Johansson’s character immediately got off, and Myers called out to her: ‘You can’t leave me alone in here with him!’
‘Oh, me? I’m in the KKK now,’ Thompson joked in character.
Then West brought up his friend Diddy and his salacious trial on racketeering and sex-trafficking charges for another awkward interaction.
‘This Diddy stuff crazy, right?’ Thompson said as West. ‘Diddy, he’s on trial right now for, like, a bunch of stuff. It’s so crazy, man. You think you know a guy. Turns out to be a full crazy monster.’
Myers only got a confused response from the rapper when he replied, ‘So what happened to you?’
In another section, when Myers said he needed to get out of the elevator because he gets ‘really claustrophobic,’ the SNL cast member replied, ‘Oh, trust me, I understand. I’m a few phobics myself.’
Then West awkward asked Myers if his last name was Jewish, at which point the Wayne’s World star began smashing button in hopes of getting off quickly, which caused the elevator to stop in place between floors.
Myers was so desperate to end the encounter that he suggested they start jumping up and down, even if it meant the elevator might crash.
‘No man, I don’t like doing crazy stuff,’ Thompson replied with a perfect deadpan expression.
‘So what have you been up to?’ Myers said as he tried to make some small talk. ‘Oh, me? I’m in the KKK now,’ Thompson joked in character
Then West awkward asked Myers if his last name was Jewish, at which point the Wayne’s World star began smashing button in hopes of getting off quickly, which caused the elevator to stop in place between floors
The sketch ended as Thompson brought out what was supposed to be a nitrous oxide canister and began to inhale as Myers fled the elevator
The ending referenced West’s claims this month that the dentist responsible for his ‘titanium teeth’ had allegedly supplied him with dangerous amounts of the drug; he’s seen in a 2024 post captioned: ‘Ye on nitrous’
Toward the end of the sketch, Thompson’s version of West put on a mask connected to what was supposed to be a nitrous oxide canister as he took a hit of the gas.
The joke references West’s former chief-of-staff Milo Yiannopoulos’ claims last year that the rapper had gotten hooked on the gas — which is also known as ‘laughing gas’ and is commonly used as a recreational drug — by his dentist.
The right-wing activist claimed that Ye was given nearly unfettered access to the drug for purely recreational use after installing the rapper’s controversial prosthodontics.
Earlier this month, West and his wife Bianca Censori announced plans to sue the dentist, Dr. Thomas Connelly, after the rapper said he had developed a chemical dependency on nitrous oxide as a result of the provider’s alleged misconduct.
They accused Connelly of allowing West to use the gas via large tanks delivered to his home with few safeguards, and often without supervision.
West’s complaint alleges that he began suffering ‘distressing neurological symptoms and erratic behavior consistent with nitrous oxide overuse and toxicity’, which the letter says includes ‘confusion, memory lapses, incoherence, unpredictable changes in mood, impaired motor function, and other cognitive and behavioral impairments.’
