It’s become something of a recent tradition at “Saturday Night Live” for the annual pre-Mother’s Day broadcast to feature a tribute of sorts from current cast members to their real-life moms. That custom was upheld in this weekend’s episode, hosted by Emma Thompson and featuring the Jonas Brothers as musical guests. But for her opening monologue, Thompson (who said her daughter, Gaia Wise, was in the audience) was joined by two other moms with long histories at “S.N.L.” — former cast members Tina Fey and Amy Poehler, who offered “a little language lesson” to help children decode what their mothers might be saying to them.

For example, Thompson said, “When you ask your mother what she wants to do for Mother’s Day and she says — ”

Fey: “Just to relax in the backyard, maybe a massage.” Thompson: What she’s actually asking is — Poehler: “How does one buy weed?”

Or, Thompson said, “When your mother sees what you’re wearing and says — ”