Quinta Brunson Pushes for Teachers to Be Paid More, Jokes About 'Friends' in 'SNL' Debut

Live from Studio 8H, it's Quinta Brunson!

The Abbott Elementary star, 33, hosted Saturday Night Live for the first time over the weekend, where she was joined by Lil Yachty as the musical guest.

During her opening monologue, Brunson opened up about the success of her hit sitcom Abbott Elementary, at one point comparing it to Friends. "Except instead of being about a group of friends, it's about a group of teachers. And instead of New York, it's in Philadelphia. And instead of not having Black people — it does," Brunson joked.

Brunson then explained in her monologue that viewers keep expecting her to fix problems within the public school system in real life, much like her character, teacher Janine Teagues. But as she shared, she's the "opposite" of her character, and the success of the show has introduced her to some pretty big names. Showing a video she and Barack Obama sent to her mother thanking her for being a teacher, Brunson then concluded that teachers get "taken for granted."

"Please remember how important teachers are, acknowledge the work they do every day and for the love of God, pay them the money they deserve," she said.

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Saturday's cold open poked fun at recent events, specifically Donald Trump being indicted by a grand jury in New York, making him the first sitting or former president in U.S. history to face criminal charges. Cast member James Austin Johnson's Trump sang parody songs to raise money from his supporters.

Joined by Kenan Thompson's Don King for a cover of "Islands in the Stream," Johnson's Trump then brought out a few other friends for renditions of "Ironic" and "Boy's a Liar Pt. 2."

Later in the show, Brunson took part in various sketches, including one where she played a doctor who keeps running into the same midwife, and another where she portrayed an increasingly concerned partner in a "Couple Goals" game show.

One other moment from the show saw the actress get into a traffic altercation with a man (played by Mikey Day) driving his daughter (played by Chloe Fineman) around. After he accuses Brunson's character of cutting him off, the pair share a heated exchange on the highway as they mime out an entire argument without rolling their windows down.

Lil Yachty, 25, also performed twice during his first-ever SNL appearance, playing selections from his latest LP Let's Start Here.

Tapping into his latest psychedelic rock-inspired sound, Yachty, whose real name is Miles Parks McCollum, first delivered a rendition of "the BLACK seminole" with Diana Gordon, before bringing the collaborator back on stage for a performance of "drive ME crazy" near the end of the show.

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Season 48 of SNL has been taking place as the comedy sketch series navigates a major cast shakeup. Longtime series regulars Kate McKinnon, Pete Davidson, Aidy Bryant and Kyle Mooney exited after the season 47 finale.

PEOPLE then confirmed on Sept. 1 that the series was also losing Melissa Villaseñor and Alex Moffat, as well as featured player Aristotle Athari. Then, Chris Redd announced his departure from SNL after five seasons, while Cecily Strong left the show in December 2022.

On Sept. 15, NBC revealed the four new featured players joining SNL in season 48: Marcello Hernandez, Molly Kearney, Michael Longfellow and Devon Walker.

SNL creator Lorne Michaels recently called season 48 a "transition year," telling reporters backstage at the 2022 Emmy Awards, "There are new people, and things are changing, and a different generation comes into the show."

Saturday Night Live will return on April 8 with Molly Shannon as host and The Jonas Brothers as musical guest.