It’s not every day that we’re blessed (cursed?) with a person so sketch-character-ready as George Santos. The man seems to lie about everything, with so many allegations of cheating and scheming and two-timing that he — to quote Waylon Smithers — crosses that line from everyday villainy to cartoonish supervillainy. And late night took notice. The Tonight Show, The Late Show, and Jimmy Kimmel Live! all had their versions of Santos at the ready. The Tonight Show went with someone who is already known for playing a liar: Jon Lovitz. The Late Show, on the other hand, went with a bit of fancasting and used What We Do in the Shadows’ Harvey Guillén. Guillén was able to address the drag allegations, saying “This drag story is just another media distraction that’s simply not gonna … werk, okurrrr.†And Jimmy Kimmel Live! went with New Girl’s Nelson Franklin, a criminally underrated comedic performer. Who did it best? Clearly, the person who best captured his essence is a gifted performer named Kitara Ravache.
Update January 22: Saturday Night Live also got some time with George Santos, this time played by Bowen Yang. Yang’s Santos cleared some things up about all the misinformation that’s being put out there (by himself). He didn’t work at Goldman Sachs, he filled gold man sacks. And his mother died in a 7-Eleven, not 9/11.