'SNL' give 'Hot Takes' on Canadian and Quebec culture in 'Bonjour-Hi!' skit

'SNL' spoofs Canadian news during skit 'Saturday Night Live' poked fun at Canada with host Issa Rae posing as a reporter on 'Drake watch', and the musical guest was Justin Bieber.

MONTREAL — The latest episode of "Saturday Night Live" had a Canadian-themed sketch, complete with references to Drake, "Degrassi," Longueuil and the Jacques-Cartier Bridge.

Anchors Jean Lawrence (or John Larry) and Anne-Marie host the French-Canadian news channel in the piece titled "Bonjour -- hi" that pokes fun at the Quebecois accent and Canadian obsession with the Toronto hip-hop artist.

"Live from Montreal! Montreal the best parts of Canada, and the worst parts of France," says host Jean Lawrence played by Bowen Yang.

"Bonjour-hey Jean," said Anne-Marie played by Kate McKinnon. "I suffer injury when I made love to a Cirque du Soleil performer. I choke on the big scarf."

Anne-Marie later smokes while giving a traffic report.

Guest host Issa Rae plays a Toronto correspondent, who stands in front of a green screen image of Toronto's waterfront for a news channel segment called "Drake Watch," and holds a microphone emblazoned with the CBC logo.

Rae and two news anchors with French accents chat about whether she had seen the Toronto rapper.

Rae says she confused him with a man in a wheelchair, which is a reference to Drake's character Jimmy Brooks from his days starring on the Canadian series "Degrassi: The Next Generation."

The anchors also chat with each other, dropping Brossard, Frontenac, Longueuil and other Quebec-isms.

"Yes? Or No? I'm sorry I don't speak whatever French this is," says guest Jean-Fred Desjardins (an American journalist from Detroit quarantined in Canada) played by Mikey Day.

The skit ends, fittingly, with the hosts belting out a karaoke version of Celine Dion's "That's the Way It Is."

There were some other Canadian elements to the "SNL" episode on NBC and Global -- Toronto-born actor Jim Carrey returned to play U.S. Democratic presidential candidate Joe Biden, and Stratford-Ont.-raised pop star Justin Bieber was the musical guest.

-- with reporting from The Canadian Press.