Saturday Night Live cold open: Dana Carvey plays Elon Musk
We spent at least a reasonable amount of time over the last few days trying to figure out what Saturday Night Live would do for the cold open. This was likely not what they anticipated, after all, when they brought back Maya Rudolph to play Kamala Harris.
Would the show do a reprisal of when Kate McKinnon played the piano as Hillary Clinton? Or, go in a different direction?
Well, they decided to do something pretty serious at the start of the show … but then also a pretty shocking twist with a lot of the cast talking about the election. First, they expressed sadness at the results, but they they feigned a lot of praise for him in order to ensure that nothing happened to them when Donald Trump gets into office.
We do think that this was a surprising way to start the show, one that was satirical of current events and also something that was biting at the same time. It does summarize a lot of the way in which people feel in the country right now, but also genuinely provided some laughs. The most surprising part of this was how Dana Carvey, just one week after playing Joe Biden, came out to play a version of Elon Musk. We’re not sure that this is going to be some permanent impression for him since he’s not a regular cast member, but clearly this was a way to get one more week of run from him.
Honestly, this did feel like the best way that the show could go this time around. We do think that SNL is aware that there is at least some election burnout and yet, they do still have to address it.
What did you think about the Saturday Night Live cold open this week?
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