‘SNL': Bowen Yang Earns MVP Status by Making Yet Another Current Events Cold Open Hilarious (Video)
- Oops!Something went wrong.Please try again later.
In the cold open to the second episode of “SNL” Season 48, Bowen Yang proved the show still has some lode-bearing talent in the cast when he somehow made yet another “SNL runs through recent current events” cold open sketch hilarious and delightful, instead of tedious. You can see for yourself at the top of the page now.
The gag was that Yang is the host of a game show called “So you think you won’t snap,” in which he exposes “the only people in America who still haven’t snapped” to some recent news items. If they keep their cool, they win money, but if they snap — by doing a unique-to-them horrible thing — they lose.
Set up as a game show perfect for a country full of people who’ve snapped, “and the only thing that can cheer us up is a sexy show about Jeffrey Dahmer,” Yang proceeded to demonstrate exactly what that means with a deadpan read of some truly horrible recent news.
First was Heidi Gardner as a “music professor and white yoga teacher” who promised that she is “just kind of a chill person so I promise you’re not gonna get me.”
But Yang set up a “today show-sized glass of wine,” at which point we learn Gardner’s character has been sober for 15 year.
First Yang notes the destruction of the bridge linking mainland Russia with Crimea that happened earlier today. Then he noted that Joe Biden recently described our current situation as closer to nuclear war than at any time since the Cuban missile crisis.
That didn’t work, so next Yang mentioned several facts showing how old Biden is, culminating in his recent 60 minutes interview in which he stuttered trying to answer a question about his mental cognizance — which broke Gardner’s character.
Next, Chloe Fineman played a “pickleball curious” mom who was given a flight attendant to attack if she snaps.
Yang brought up the Herschel Walker abortion scandal. When Fineman assumed that would come back to hurt his campaign, Yang noted that the day after the scandal broke was his best-ever fundraising day. Then he brought up a recent poll showing how many kids want to be influencers when they grow up. The mom was unfazed because her kids like video games. So Yang played a clip of the recent “Super Mario Bros.” trailer. And when she heard Chris Pratt’s voice, she snapped.
Next was Kenan Thompson as an older man who should have stayed very relaxed, since he was both high on cannabis, and had sex just before going on the game show. But he snapped just hearing Elon Musk’s name.
Finally, Devon Walker played a college student from Michigan who insists the thing that keeps him up at night is “cuties.” Yang flooded him with news about Kanye West — and Walker’s breaking point was the fact that West appeared as a guest on Tucker Carlson’s show.
It was all rather amusing but the main reason is that Yang sold the hell out of every moment, particularly revealing the escalating terrible news with a delightful calm smugness that made what could have been a painful rehash funny.
Would have been nice if “SNL” could try something other than current events jokes in the cold opens for a change, but if they have to do it, this was about as good as it gets. Give this stuff to Bowen Yang from now on, OK?
