SNL Cast Members Were Shocked When The Audience Swore On Live TV In A Hilarious Mistake

The nature of "Saturday Night Live" makes it one of the most unique shows on television. It's the only series that airs regular installments live on TV, so the risk is always there for something to go wrong. That could be a simple line flub, a musical guest abruptly leaving the stage at good nights, or something unexpected but hilarious, like the cast breaking during a Beavis and Butt-Head sketch. No matter how tight of a ship showrunner Lorne Michaels runs, the potential for a little bit of chaos lingers. 

However, as more audiences have come to watch "SNL" through YouTube and social media clips, they're not always privy to the mistakes that happen in the live show. Occasionally, "SNL" will use a version of a sketch from dress rehearsal, or the show will make an edit in post-production that fixes a poorly timed cut or other easily reparable gaffe. So if you're one of the people who watched clips from Jack Black's recent hosting stint, his first time back on the show since 2005, then you missed one of the funniest moments of season 50 of "SNL."

During Weekend Update with Colin Jost and Michael Che, cast member Ego Nwodim was brought out as herself to prove that she could do jokes at the White House Press Correspondents Dinner without creating any political division, since the current presidential administration opted to not have a comedian perform at the annual event. Nwodim's approach, as she dictated, was that she would crack jokes about the food served at the event. That's exactly how the bit started, but the Def Jam Comedy persona that she put on for the bit soon devolved into jokes that weren't about the meal at all. In fact, they became jokes that clearly weren't pulling from Nwodim's own life, and the entire gag became a stand-up set out of the 1980s. 

This Weekend Update segment was funny enough by itself, but when a bit of audience participation went shockingly awry and resulted in pretty much the entire audience shouting the typically censored word "s***" on live television, it had Jost, Che, and Nwodim reeling from the surprise violation of network television censorship rules. 

For those who don't know, network television has rules about which swear words can be said on television. That's why former cast member Jenny Slate famously got in some hot water when she accidentally let an f-bomb slip live on the air early in her tenure on the show (though that wasn't the actual reason she ended up being let go from the show). One of the words that you can't say on network television without incurring some sort of fine is "s***." That's what makes Ego Nwodim's bit at Weekend Update so funny, especially since it wasn't a cast member who made such a mistake.

When Nwodim steered her faux stand-up bit into discussing Senator Cory Booker's 25-hour filibuster from early April 2025, she said, "Shoooot, I had my fill of busters. 'Cause these men ain't what?" When she held her hand to her ear for the audience to respond, as she did for another line earlier in the bit, the crowd exclaimed, "S***!" in unison, though you won't hear it in any of the official online versions of the clips. 

However, if you look at the clip above, starting at 3:07, you'll see that once that exclamation hits the air, Jost, Che, and Nwodim are floored and maybe even a bit scared about what just happened. In the moment, Nwodim even quickly reacted by saying, "We finna get fined for that," and followed it up by jesting, "Y'all gonna have to pay for that. Lorne gonna be mad at y'all." Thankfully, the internet came through, and you can watch the live version with the profanity intact, as long as you know where to look.

This kind of moment is what make "SNL" special, and it's one of many reasons that I'll keep tuning in to the show every single week. Despite Lorne Michaels' not allowing for improvisation on the show, sometimes you still get a wonderful surprise like this. Hopefully Lorne wasn't too mad about this s***.