Saturday Night Live cold open: The 2023 Christmas Awards

There were so many different reasons to be excited for this week’s Saturday Night Live cold open far in advance. Where do we begin? Kate McKinnon was the host! While it’s not often that a host appears prior to the monologue, every now and then you get an exception. Also, remember the wide array of characters she plays, in particular within this political realm.

So what did we actually get to see here? Well, something that we honestly did not expect in the form of the Christmas Awards. There were a lot of silly categories in here, including the Worst Gift. There was a lot of relatable content here but honestly, we were sitting around , wondering if there was some sort of big, unexpected twist that was going to be turning up here. Instead, we got another chance to hear Chloe Troast sing, which is something that Lorne Michaels is leaning on a LOT right now.

Briefly, the show did make us think that Leonardo DiCaprio was going to be appearing here … but it just turns out that it was an impression of Mario Lopez instead.

While we will say that there were a few laughs in here and it was certainly timely, at the same time we have to say that we thought something more was going to happen here given that McKinnon is the host for the week and she has so many characters she could’ve played. Granted, a lot of them may be saved for later on in the show.

For now, we’re just going to go ahead and say that this is meant to be the calm before the storm — or at least so we hope. A part of the problem may be on us for having more expectations for this show than almost any other this season.

What did you think about the Saturday Night Live cold open this week?

Be sure to share right now in the attached comments! Once you do just that, keep coming back for some other updates.