‘Saturday Night Live’ video: Check out the (fast) cold open turnaround

While we wait for new episodes of “Saturday Night Live” to come on the air starting next month, NBC over the holidays has done a pretty tremendous job at giving us some further insight into what goes into making the show — which is really rather impressive when you actually get a chance to see it.

In the video below, you have effectively an up-close-and-personal look at how the show manages to turn around the entire set from the cold open to the monologue in just a matter of a couple of minutes. The show’s studio is a relatively small one, and this is one of the tightest windows that the series has to work with given that they’ve got to take down the entire set for the opening and have the stage clear for the monologue before Darrell Hammond announces the arrival of the host to the stage.

Seeing this video in action also should provide you with a little bit more insight. For example, seeing this makes it so much clearer as to why there are not two live sketches in a row during the show without a commercial break diving them up; instead, we’ll often see a pre-tape sketch or two commercials sandwiched between them. This also explains further why a musical performance exists on its own island, given that you have to take down and put up a new set during the commercial breaks around it.

New episodes of “SNL” will begin with first-time host Felicity Jones on January 14, so she’s going to be the next person to get the opportunity to see all of this in person. Isn’t that exciting?

If you want to see some more coverage of the show, including our take on the funniest sketch of the year so far, all you’ve got to do is head over to the link here right now! (Photo: NBC.)