Sometimes the best form of comedy is the callback.
To open up Saturday Night Live‘s newest episode (with host Jack Black and musical guests Elton John and Brandi Carlile), the long-running sketch comedy show opted to provide commentary on President Trump’s recent tariffs. At one point, SNL leaned into the fact that one of the reciprocal tariffs that the POTUS instated affected the Heard Island and McDonald Islands… which are inhabited mostly by seals and penguins.
And they worked in the phrase “Get Me To God’s Country” while SNL cast member James Austin Johnson did his Trump impersonation.
In case you missed it, the phrase has quickly turned into an internet sensation (and meme) over the past week. There’s a good chance you’ve seen “Get Me To God’s Country” all over your social media feed ever since Wallen made headlines with his early exit. The plethora of memes about it have been incredibly entertaining, and if you are still in the dark about how it came to be, let me catch you up.
Last Saturday, the country music superstar was the musical guest on Saturday Night Live. Obviously his appearance was made in an effort to help promote his new album, I’m The Problem, and corresponding tour. But all signs pointed towards him being not-all-that interested in being “Live From New York!”
Wallen became a trending topic online – and still is a week later – because during SNL’s signature end of show sendoff (where the cast, host and musical guest all say goodbye to the audience and hug and chat), the country music singer gave his pleasantries to host Mikey Madison and then walked right off the stage.
As you can see here:
Thank you, Mikey Madison and @MorganWallen! Goodnight! pic.twitter.com/FDlInhhHqb
— Saturday Night Live – SNL (@nbcsnl) March 30, 2025
Because of that exit – without talking to any of the SNL cast behind him – many assumed that Morgan Wallen couldn’t wait to get out of New York City. And his Instagram story that he posted shortly after his early departure all but confirmed that belief. The “Whiskey Glasses” singer shared a picture from the airport in New York and captioned it with this:
“Get Me To God’s Country.”
Morgan Wallen on Instagram Stories after his #SNL performances pic.twitter.com/S89xjcgIqs
— Saturday Night Network (@thesnlnetwork) March 30, 2025
So now you are familiar with the “Get Me To God’s Country” phrase, right? I’m sure you already were before, but just wanted to catch you up.
Because in the most recent episode of SNL, they opened up with a Donald Trump sketch and directly referenced Morgan Wallen’s message that he posted to his Instagram story. While talking about the McDonald Islands that President Trump hit with tariffs, Johnson’s impression spilled into a “Imagine McDonald Island” joke.
They had a cardboard mock up (similar to the one showing reciprocal tariffs that Trump actually held this past week) of what McDonald’s Island could look like – fit with french fry trees, dancing McNuggets, and a Big Mac in a hula skirt.
And at the very end, they inserted a meta joke that called back to SNL‘s musical guest from the previous week:
“No country is safe from my tariffs. I even put tariffs on an island that is uninhabited by humans. It’s called Herd and McDonald Island. Ooh, McDonald Island… I’d love to visit there, right? Can you imagine that? A Big Mac in a hula skirt. Hula-la.
I had them mock up some artwork of McDonald Island. Do you mind bringing that out? There we go. I want to go to there. Get me to God’s country, right? Remember that?”
Trump provides an update on his recent tariffs pic.twitter.com/vsX224eBWf
— Saturday Night Live – SNL (@nbcsnl) April 6, 2025
Guess there’s no better way to address the Morgan Wallen early exit then crack a joke about it the very next week, eh?
Saturday Night Live double-dipped on the callback and also referenced the country star’s early exit in the signature Weekend Update portion of the show. Colin Jost poked fun at the Wallen controversy while comparing it to the stock market plunge:
“Money is leaving the stock market faster than Morgan Wallen at goodnights.”
Weekend Update with Colin Jost and Michael Che! pic.twitter.com/SpOxEgrncT
— Saturday Night Live – SNL (@nbcsnl) April 6, 2025
