“Saturday Night Live” has built an empire around mocking public figures. No politician, pop culture icon, or prominent business person escapes being parodied by the sketch comedy show. Jeff Bezos is no exception. On the October 2nd edition of SNL, host Owen Wilson portrayed the Amazon billionaire in a sketch that mocked the newest trend among multi-billionaires — going to space.
‘Star Trek: Ego Quest’
The skit was a trailer for a new, faux “Star Trek” series called “Star Trek: Ego Quest.” The faux show starred Wilson as Bezos, his brother Luke Wilson as Bezos’ brother Mark, and two of the regular cast members as Oliver Daemen — the young man who went to space with Bezos in July — and Wally Funk — the aviator who was aboard that same space flight.
The focus of the faux series was the fact that Bezos and his “crew” didn’t really have any purpose in space. Unlike the beloved crews of the real “Star Trek” shows, faux Bezos’ “crew” wasn’t on a mission to “seek out new life and new civilizations.” They were in space to “hang out.” Several times throughout the sketch, Owen’s Bezos made it clear that he was just “goofing off.”
Billionaires in Space
YouTubeSNL skit featuring Richard Branson in space
Bezos wasn’t the only billionaire to get roasted by the SNL sketch. Richard Branson, played by SNL regular Alex Moffat, showed up in a Virgin Galactic spaceship and chatted with Wilson’s Bezos about how awesome it is to hang out in space. He then challenged him to a galactic drag race, during which they hit the International Space Station.
Of course, a billionaires in space sketch wouldn’t be complete without an appearance by Elon Musk. Musk, played by SNL regular Mikey Day, showed up in a giant SpaceX vessel and fired photon torpedoes at Bezos’ comparatively tiny Blue Origins ship.
Day’s Musk told Wilson’s Bezos that “space is only big enough for one weird white billionaire.” He continued, saying that defeating Bezos was his “prime objective,” an obvious play on the Trekverse’s Prime Directive.
Faux Musk and Bezos were pitted against each other as the mortal enemies of the billionaires in space saga. However, their battle didn’t go much of anywhere since Bezos decided to “do another lap” around Earth.
No Shatner in SNL Space… Yet
The SNL skit air just two days before Captain Kirk himself, William Shatner, confirmed that he’s headed to space on one of Jeff Bezos’ Blue Origin spaceships. So, Shatner escaped being part of “Star Trek: Ego Quest.” However, SNL loves a good “Star Trek” parody. So, it’s possible they’ll have a follow-up skit that features a parody of Shatner soon.
Shatner is no stranger to parodying the show that made him famous on “Saturday Night Live.” In the 1980s he played himself in the now-infamous “Get a Life” sketch, in which he exploded at Trekkers during a faux Q&A session at a Trek convention. The skit made headlines recently when Gene Roddenberry’s son said he found the skit “disrespectful” to fans and the Trek legacy.
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