Stephen A. Smith Applauds SNL’s Hilarious Parody of ESPN’s First Take

Saturday Night Live may have cut their best skit over the weekend by not letting their parody of ESPN’s First Take make it to the show. Luckily, it was made available online and Stephen A. Smith was a big fan.

SNL’s Chris Redd played Smith, while Kenan Thompson offered a tremendous portrayal of First Take contributor and football Hall-of-Famer Michael Irving. Even Molly Qerim, who is tasked with the difficult job of moderating First Take, was featured by Chloe Fineman in the skit.

I admittedly did not watch SNL over the weekend, but it’s hard to imagine every skit on the show topped their parody of First Take, which wasn’t all that far off from the often frenzied arguing that occurs on ESPN. “They got us,” Smith admitted Monday morning.

During the skit, Redd and Thompson’s versions of Smith and Irving passionately argued “Tom Brady: Exceptional or Very Exceptional,” before they later dove into a heated debate of apples vs oranges.

SNL also mocked Irving getting arrested for cocaine possession more than a quarter-century ago. But the jab didn’t appear to alter Smith and Irvin’s feelings on the skit. Both ESPN personalities relished being lampooned by SNL, sharing the clip on social media and reacting to it Monday morning on First Take.

As much as Smith enjoyed his own parody, the First Take host highly suggests watching Redd’s SNL impression of the recently inaugurated Mayor of New York City Eric Adams.

“I haven’t laughed that hard about SNL in 20 years!” Smith declared. “I promise y’all, it’s must-see.”

Watch above via ESPN.