'Saturday Night Live' Takes On The Refugee Crisis

Saturday Night Live jumped into the debate surrounding whether the U.S. should continue taking in Syrian refugees in Saturday's episode. The episode opened with a special Fox & Friends skit, where the three hosts quickly turned to the refugee crisis. Then, the hosts speak with Republican presidential candidate and retired neurosurgeon Ben Carson, who says he's pretty "revved up" about the refugee situation. Jay Pharoah, who plays Ben Carson on Saturday Night Live, thinks Syrian refugees should be subject to a special kind of screening process.

The three Fox & Friends hosts say that the refugee situation is getting truly out of hand. They say that they've obtained exclusive footage that shows a "crazed mob of Syrian refugees" trying to cross U.S. borders. Taran Killam's Steve Doocy says, "I mean, look at this chaos! There's no screening. They're just walking into that Wal-Mart! They're just taking anything they like," according to video of the segment. But, a moment later, Doocy is told that the footage is actually footage of Black Friday shoppers, according to The Daily Beast. "Well, I think the point still stands," says Bobby Moynihan as Brian Kilmeade.

Then, Vanessa Bayer as Fox host Elisabeth Hasselbeck pipes in: "By the way, why are we supposed to give special treatment to Black Friday? I'm just going to come out and say it: All Fridays Matter," she proclaims enthusiastically. Then, the hosts speak with Dr. Ben Carson about his views on refugees. Before the hosts show footage of Carson, Kilmeade introduces him with "Straight outta Compton!" Doocy quickly corrects him and says, "That's the wrong black doctor. You're thinking of Dr. Dre."

Carson, who looks like he could fall asleep at any minute, says, "My apologies if I already seem agitated, but I am just revved up about this," according to the segment. "I would ask that viewers at home turn their volume down because I might get crazy," he says.

Doocy asks him if he has a plan to carefully screen everyone and "separate Muslims from Christian refugees." The real Carson recently proposed increasing security measures for incoming refugees, though reporters pointed out that all of his suggestions were already in place, according to CBS News. Carson also recently came under fire for saying that mosques in the U.S. should be subject to special searches and monitoring if they are radicalizing people, but he recently backpedaled on that comment, saying he would subject Christian churches to the same thing if he believed they were involved in terrorist activity, according to CBS.

Pharoah's Carson had a few creative ideas for screening refugees to make sure they're truly interested in American values:

Well, weeding out the Islamists would be simple. First we'd say, "You can't come into this country until I see you eat bacon while singing a Christmas carol." Or, all refugees will be given Mad Libs with the phrase, Death to "blank." Anyone who writes "America," won't be allowed inside America.

Hasselbeck says that President Barack Obama has chosen to "lead from behind" on the refugee crisis, referencing a term that an Obama adviser used in an interview to describe how the Obama administration prefers to put others first, sometimes allowing them to make the first move, according to The New Yorker. She asks Carson if that strategy is dangerous.

Carson says, "Absolutely. Extremists are entering this country every day. I mean, open your eyes, President Obama. It's enough to make me flip my top." But Carson's eyes are slowing closing, and he seems to be falling asleep.

Doocey says that he seems pretty calm despite his claims that he's pretty riled up. But Carson just says that that's his natural demeanor:

Oh, I'm like a koala bear. On the outside, I may seem nice, but on the inside, I've never held elected office.

The hosts turn to the Fox News fact checker, Carla, who says they did really poorly when it came to sticking with the facts in the segment.

Images: Saturday Night Live/NBC