DHS reacts to SNL cold open featuring Tina Fey as Kristi Noem and Amy Poehler as Pam Bondi

The sketch pokes fun at Bondi’s responses during her Oct. 7 congressional hearing.

Tina Fey as Kristi Noem and Host Amy Poehler as Pam Bondi on ‘Saturday Night Live’.Credit: 

The Department of Homeland Security has something to say about  Saturday Night Live parodying Attorney General Pam Bondi’s congressional hearing.

This week’s cold open saw host and former SNL cast member Amy Poehler reunite with Tina Fey to play Bondi and Secretary of Homeland Security Kristi Noem, respectively. Poehler opened the sketch by saying, “What’s up nerds? My name is Pam Bondi. I spell it with an ‘I’ ’cause ‘I ain’t gonna answer any of your questions.’ My time is valuable.”

Indeed, Poehler’s Bondi made true on that promise: She refused to answer questions from Sens. Richard Blumenthal (Mikey Day), Sheldon Whitehouse (Jeremy Culhane), and John Kennedy (Andrew Dismukes), while countering with “roast-style burns” and glances at her cheat sheet. Then, she welcomed Noem to the stand.

Amy Poehler as Pam Bondi on ‘Saturday Night Live’.

“Hold my gun,” Fey’s Noem said, tossing off the assault rifle she showed up holding. “That’s right, it’s me Kristi Noem. I spell my name with an ‘I’ because that’s how I thought it was spelled. And I’m the rarest type of person in Washington, D.C. — a brunette that Donald Trump listens to. I’m here to tell you that this Democrat government shutdown needs to end now.”

In a statement shared with Entertainment Weekly, DHS Assistant Secretary Tricia McLaughlin said, “SNL is absolutely right — the Democrats’ shutdown does need to end!”

The sketch comes nearly a week after Bondi’s five-hour hearing, during which she dodged questions about numerous actions taken by the Trump administration, launched personal attacks on several senators, and frequently referenced the ongoing government shutdown.

As for the hearing in the SNL parody, Day went on to argue that Democrats  “are even more eager to end this shutdown than our Republican colleagues.” But Fey’s Noem laughed him off. She remarked: “That makes me laugh more than the end of Old Yeller.”

US Secretary of Homeland Security Kristi Noem and US Attorney General Pam Bondi listen to US President Donald Trump in the Oval Office on September 15, 2025.

The tragic ending to the 1957 movie sees a 15-year-old forced to shoot his beloved dog after it suffers a bite from a rabid wolf. But Fey’s Noem was unmoved by Day pointing this out and replied, “Dogs don’t just get shot. Heroes shoot them.”

The latter comment lampshades Noem’s own history as a dog owner, which includes her 2024 confession about shooting and killing a puppy 20 years prior, after deeming her “untrainable.”

The sketch concluded with Fey’s Noem defending ICE and reenacting a recruitment video for the agency (with a few interjections from Poehler’s Bondi).

“Do you need a job now? (Yeah!) Are you a big, tough guy? (Yeah!) Tough enough for the army or police? (No!) But do you take supplements that you bought at a gas station? (Daily.) Do you like to use zip ties, because people in your life don’t trust you with keys? (You know it!) Then buckle up and slap on some Oakleys, big boy. Welcome to ICE,” the duo declared.