'SNL' Returns With an All-Star Cold Open to Kick off Billie Eilish Episode

12/12/2021 12:48 am EST

Saturday Night Live finally returned after its Thanksgiving break and hopped right back into current events. That means COVID-19 pandemic talk, Kate McKinnon as Anthony Fauci and more holiday skits to explain how best to live with the new variant.

It's not exactly a helpful display thanks to the "nerds" behind the different skits portrayed in the cold open sketch. These are definitely skits and not sketches, especially with the appearance of Andrew and Chris Cuomo — played by Pete Davidson and Andrew Dismukes.

The cold open also brought out Marjorie Taylor Greene played by Cecily Strong and Lauren Boebert played by Chloe Fineman. We also got another appearance by Aidy Bryant as Ted Cruz, which has to have some sort of psychological impact on the comedian at some level.

The show has two big episodes lined up to close out December and 2021 starting with Saturday's return hosted by Billie Eilish, who will also be the musical guest. She follows some major talent in the past who also pulled double duty, including Harry Styles, Miley Cyrus and Nick Jonas. This is Eilish's second time on the show, performing a few years back while she still had green hair. Her monologue this time around addressed this a bit and showed where her acting bug shriveled up and died. Thankfully her family is very loving, supportive and very much in on the joke. She's also set to celebrate a birthday next week, right around the time SNL's final episode of the year will air.

Next week will see Paul Rudd take on hosting for his fifth time, joining the club in the process and likely bringing along a few special guests. Musical guest Charli XCX will make her second appearance on the show and hopefully help round out a fun holiday episode of the long-running sketch series.

Rudd is currently appearing in countless properties, including the new Ghostbusters film, The Shrink Next Door with Will Ferrell and he'll be in the third Ant-Man film as part of the Marvel Cinematic Universe. While his star is a lot bigger these days, Rudd is still a quality comedy hand. So it should be interesting to see how his fifth time turns out.

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