Saturday Night Live tackled the viral Roman Empire trend in a hilarious rap song.
During the Saturday, November 18, episode of SNL, a group of women (played by Ego Nwodim, Punkie Johnson and Chloe Troast) wondered what their husbands (portrayed by episode host Jason Momoa, Mikey Day and Kenan Thompson) often think about.
“Lately it seems like the magic is gone / He’s the love of my life, but something is wrong,” Nwodim, 35, sings as Momoa, 44, looks off into the distance. “Would he be happier on his own?”
After Nwodim pointedly asked Momoa about his recent thoughts, he launched into a full-scale rap (in a period gladiator costume) to explain.
“Me? I’m just thinking about the Roman Empire / Ancient Rome / 5 times a day it pops into my dome,” he raps. “Which reminds me, they invited the dome. That’s one of the reasons I think about Rome!”
Momoa adds: “[Julius] Caesar straight didn’t give a f–k / Drank ice cold water from an aqueduct / But it’s the eternal city / Here’s him and his twin [Remus] sucking on a wolf’s titty. What!”
Troast, 26, and Johnson, 38, had similar revelations about their onscreen husbands (Day and Thompson, respectively) acting distanced and not expressing interest in their families.
“Rome, Rome in the year Double M, Double X, Triple I / Did you know that their statues weren’t white?” Day, 43, chimes in. “They painted them in colors bold and bright. Emperor Nero killed his own mother / When they took a s–t, they sat next to each other.”
The Roman Empire trend started circulating on TikTok in September before SNL kicked off season 49. In various social media videos, many women were completely shocked to find out that their partners pondered the historic topic at least once a week. Momoa and the SNL men took to the Studio 8H stage on Saturday to highlight the Roman Empire’s achievements.
“It’s Rome, Rome, Ancient Rome. They have central air and heat in the home,” Momoa adds before Nwodim fake-slaps him for living in his imagination — and passing that trait onto their dinosaur-obsessed son.
“I said, you’re acting like the Visigoths right now,” he retorts, kicking off the final verse of his chant. “[Dinosaurs are] kind of like Rome, Rome, Ancient Rome / Kind of like London, Paris, Zurich and Cologne! In terms of religion …”
Nwodim cut off Momoa, telling him he needs “to be thinking about things that matter today” like astrology.
“Astrology, astrology and reading stars / And how they determine who we are,” she sings alongside Troast and Johnson. “See, a Scorpio I know he’s gon’ cheat all day / And if you are triple Gemini, stay the hell away / ‘Cause astrology!”
Momoa, however, made a counterpoint that the Ancient Romans were “actually into” astrology too. Nwodim wasn’t hearing his rebuttal. “I said, ‘You’re done,’” she adds with another fake slap.
Saturday Night Live airs on NBC Saturdays at 11:30 p.m. ET.
