Been quite a while since Ashley last played Karoline Leavitt. I always love this impression of hers. A meta comment about Ashley playing all the women in his cabinet. While maybe funny on paper, it is a sad reminder of how poor/limited most of the other women in the cast are next to Ashley Padilla. This cold open’s format reminds me of those awful Trumpwin (shudder) cold opens, complete with phone calls and split screens. JAJ is doing his best to elevate this as always, however. Not sure if it is working for me as much as I want it to.
April 4, 2026 – Jack Black / Jack White (S51 E16)
Funny enough, I was complaining how the show never seems to do sports-centric cold opens like they used to. Am I being tracked? If so, can Lorne fire the people I’ve been begging to leave? Thanks in advance. As always, a very good Ernie Johnson voice from JAJ. I even like his impression a little more than the solid one Bill Hader used to do. I am not familiar with the coach Jeremy is playing, but he is great in this part.
March 14, 2026 – Harry Styles (S51 E15)
Utterly bizarre to get a non-political cold open, unless we get a twist. Guess the topical take on the gas prices is making this a somewhat political open. Alright, so JAJ’s Trump appears after a one-week break. I kinda grew tired of these interruption opens, especially watching the cast frozen behind him. Unearned airtime for certain some in the cast.
March 7, 2026 – Ryan Gosling / Gorillaz (S51 E14)
While I like Colin’s Pete Hegseth, I am growing tired of how overused it is by this point. It feels, like fellow SNL reviewer John stated: fan bait. Jeremy has introduced Colin in all these cold opens so far. I will admit, that was a very funny entrance from Colin. His best in these. Standard lines from Colin’s Hegseth, although his constant sing-songy lines keep cracking me up.
February 28, 2026 – Connor Storrie / Mumford & Sons (S51 E13)
They must’ve rewritten this cold open to have it parodying the Iran strike instead of having it around the State of the Union speech. The usual laughs from the impression, especially the whole Forrest Gump portion. I admit getting a bigger laugh than expected from the time-traveling r-word line. They even mentioned the scrapped original open being the State of the Union. The making fun of Jeremy part, while funny, is an overdone trope of SNL with its newbies.
January 31, 2026 – Alexander Skarsgård / Cardi B (S51 E12)
I see this era continues slowly with the unnecessary, random cameos. With now Pete Davidson being given a bone to impersonate a political figure instead of a cast member. Hey, I don’t hate Pete, but come on, Lorne. I am at least glad we are getting a much-needed break from the Trump opens.
January 24, 2026 – Teyana Taylor / Geese (S51 E11)
This concept reminds me of that horrible Ukraine cold open from the season 47 Oscar Isaac episode. This will hopefully only go but up. Nice to see the show making it known Jeremy is the new Vance. Hopefully he’ll do more with the impression than Bowen, who clearly only did it for Lorne. Not laughing at the photoshopped Trump photos, even the Epstein one. Photo-based humor isn’t for me. While very Trump-y, I admit cracking up at the award categories. While definitely in his wheelhouse, Marcello isn’t adding that much energy to the proceeding as Milei, despite his usual committed work.
January 17, 2026 – Finn Wolfhard / A$AP Rocky (S51 E10)
Yet another Trump open? Look, I love this impression and all, but they’re really overusing it of late. A laugh from the “Cabinet of Curiosities” line. Jeremy as JD Vance? He actually looks pretty uncanny to him in that wig and beard. Tommy is one I’ve seen fans mentioning as a potential performer for the VP. Not sure why we are having a meta comment on Vance being recast, as Bowen barely even played him after the Election sketches (shudder) anyways.
December 20, 2025 – Ariana Grande / Cher (S51 E9)
I’m surprised we are getting another Trump open, especially that the last two Christmas episodes had apolitical opens. A laugh from the we “added a fourth ho” line. The usual good laughs from JAJ’s Trump. I know some fans are plain sick watching political cold opens (though that seems to be a minority, considering the praise this impression [rightfully] keeps getting). I am fine with them myself, however.
December 13, 2025 – Josh O’Connor / Lily Allen (S51 E8)
Already a creative and interesting start to the cold open. Nice seeing Ashley right from the get-go. Good camera angles during this cold open so far. Hilarious closeup on Ashley’s Karoline. Both JAJ and Ashley had really fun chemistry during this whole portion.