"I always forget" — Saturday Night Live star Seth Meyers reacts to late-night audience after 'Mango' joke falls flat

Seth Meyers reacted to a quiet audience during a recent Late Night with Seth Meyers episode on May 1, 2025, after a joke referencing Saturday Night Live's Chris Kattan’s Mango character didn’t land as expected. The moment happened during the “A Closer Look” segment, when Meyers shifted from a discussion on economic tariffs to a brief callback to the Saturday Night Live sketch.

After a little reaction from the crowd that served as a direct acknowledgment of the audience’s unfamiliarity with the character introduced over two decades ago, Meyers responded by saying,

"What, 2025? Okay, I always forget," after his impersonation of Mango failed to receive much laughter.

Seth Meyers reacts to a quiet audience after Saturday Night Live "Mango" joke on Late Night

Joke followed a comment about trade and mangoes

The joke came in the middle of a segment discussing President Donald Trump’s trade policies. Meyers was responding to comments from Trump’s secretary of commerce, who said a 10 percent tariff “is not going to change virtually any price,” except in cases where there are no U.S.-made alternatives. Meyers replied,

“Like mangoes. We don’t make mangoes here...We do make mangos here. It’s just the one we make, you can’t-a have-a,” delivered in a stylized voice as a photo of Mango appeared onscreen.

When the audience didn’t react, Meyers said,

"I always forget what year it is until a joke like that doesn’t work.”

No follow-up after the moment

Meyers didn’t expand on the reference but used it to shift back to criticizing Trump-era trade policies. His “A Closer Look” segment often mixes political commentary with old news clips and humor. A former SNL cast member and head writer until 2014, Meyers often includes SNL references in his current show, Late Night with Seth Meyers, which he began hosting in 2014.

The mention of Mango in the tariff segment was not repeated in the remainder of the show, and no additional SNL references followed. The original comment about mangoes was used to illustrate the economic challenge of sourcing goods not produced in the U.S.

Kattan’s Mango character has not appeared in new SNL sketches since Kattan departed from the show, though the character remains recognizable to longtime fans of the series.

Meyers ended the segment without returning to the joke, but his mid-segment remark—“You can’t-a have-a the Mango,”—was left in the final broadcast.

Mango character background from SNL

Mango is a character portrayed by Chris Kattan on Saturday Night Live from 1997 to 2002. Known for flamboyant clothing and exaggerated behavior, the character was written to be universally desirable regardless of gender.

Mango’s trademark voice and catchphrase, “You can’t-a have-a the Mango,” became associated with several high-profile sketches featuring celebrity guests like Garth Brooks and Jennifer Lopez.

In a 2019 interview on The Tonight Show Starring Jimmy Fallon, Kattan discussed the origins of the Mango character. He said,

“The voice came from a Dalmatian I had. That dog had attitude. I combined that with this person I dated who would always talk in the third person.”

Kattan also stated that Mango was based on “my ex-girlfriend and my dog.”

Watch Saturday Night Live at 11:30 PM ET on NBC, with episodes streaming the next day on Peacock.

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