Miley Cyrus on 'SNL': 'Hannah Montana' is dead

CNN) -- By hosting "Saturday Night Live" this weekend, Miley Cyrus might have just had the last laugh. The 20-year-old pop star has eclipsed nearly every other figure in popular culture in the weeks following her salacious twerking-with-teddy-bears routine with Robin Thicke at the 2013 MTV Video Music Awards on August 25. There was no way "Saturday Night Live" was not going to address the subsequent tidal wave of reaction, and the sketch comedy series smartly attacked it right at the start of the cold open. With "SNL" cast member Kenan Thompson playing a wise old-timer in the year 2045, he recounts what led America to an apocalyptic state of destruction. Vanessa Bayer. ("I think I'm hallucinating," Cyrus said in a winking joke. "I must've smoked too much ... cigarettes.") "Old Miley" was there to warn that the VMAs routine "might be too controversial" and hit all the references in the process: Cyrus' revealing costume that could potentially land her in prison; the constant tongue wagging ("I'm having tiny strokes, yo!" Cyrus explained); and the stuffed animals as stage props. (Cried one stuffed bear before going on stage, "We shouldn't be doing this! This is for kids!") But in the end, Cyrus told her old self that while she knows kids look up to her as a role model, she's still growing up herself. "I'm only 20 years old, I need some freedom to grow up and make mistakes," she said. "And no matter what happens, I promise I'll always be true to Miley Cyrus." Just don't expect her to feel the same way about her former Disney character, "Hannah Montana." As the 20-year-old said in her opening monologue, "I don't apologize for my VMAs performance. If I owe anybody an apology, it's the people who make the bottom half of shirts. There are a few subjects I'm not going to get into tonight: I'm not going to do Hannah Montana, but I can give you an update. She was murdered."