WASHINGTON - Days after the Senate cleared a significant hurdle in the debate on new gun control measures, "Saturday Night Live" took aim at the Senate's work on the issue in its opening sketch last night, spoofing the cloture vote on guns and the background check deal reached this week.

"This week the Senate voted 68 to 31 to begin debating the idea of discussing gun control," the President Obama character, who is played by Jay Pharaoh, said of the Senate's cloture vote Thursday. "Let me say that again. They've agreed to think about talking about gun control."

Obama then called on Sens. Joe Manchin, D-W.Va., played by Jason Sudeikis, and Pat Toomey, R-Pa., portrayed by Bill Hader, to join him on stage to tout the background check deal they brokered this week.

"These men risked everything for this bill," he said. "I mean, Senator Manchin represents West Virginia and he's proposing gun reform? He's gonna lose his job. And Senator Toomey, this man is a Republican who is willing to make just the slightest compromise on gun control? He's going to lose his job, too."

"If our bill passes, no individual can purchase a handgun from a private dealer without being asked, 'Are you a good person?' as well as the follow-up question, 'Seriously, are you?'" the Toomey character said.

"Is this bill what we wanted? No," the Manchin character said. "Is it what the NRA wanted? No. But does it at least help in some small way? No. Probably not."