“Your thing can’t be the measles,” John Mulaney told Health and Human Services Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr. during his November 14 Saturday Night Live monologue. “That can’t be your project, giving people the measles.”
Mulaney, 44, was hosting for the 7th time. The former SNL writer moved from describing a child with a hoarse voice into an impression of Kennedy, 72, whose strained voice is caused by spasmodic dysphonia, a neurological disorder.
Playing Kennedy, Mulaney said: “Stop the science… Robitussin when taken during menstruation will cause telekinesis. This is clear from the pamphlets in my rental car.” Back in his own voice, he added, “No one likes that guy anymore.”
The measles joke came as the U.S. faced its highest case count since 1991. As of November 12, the CDC had recorded 5,412 confirmed cases, about 97% of them in unvaccinated people.
The agency had confirmed 6 measles-related deaths this year; state health departments had reported 10. After gaining measles-elimination status in 2000, the country faced the risk of losing it.
Kennedy was an anti-vaccine activist before President Donald Trump appointed him HHS secretary. Critics say he’s downplayed the protection offered by the MMR vaccine.
Mulaney also drew on his own history with Kennedy. “Yeah, I called him Bobby. I’ve known that dude for over a decade,” he said. “You shouldn’t be in the government if I’ve known you for over a decade. I know some whack-ass people.”
He roasted Kennedy’s earlier environmental work protecting the Hudson River and recalled performing at a benefit connected to that work. Kennedy spent years as Riverkeeper’s chief prosecuting attorney and later led the related Waterkeeper Alliance.
Mulaney had performed a version of the Kennedy material, including the measles joke, at the Night of Too Many Stars autism benefit at the Hollywood Bowl on May 7, 2026.