Saturday Night Live took on the U.S. government’s coronavirus vaccine rollout and states’ varying eligibility requirements in last night’s cold open. Kate McKinnon once again starred as Dr. Anthony Fauci, who hosted a game show called So You Think You Can Get a Vaccine. Contestants filed in one-by-one to learn if they somehow met the requirements to become vaccinated.
“Getting the vaccine shouldn’t have to be competition, but Americans will only want to get it if it means someone else can’t,” Fauci said before introducing the judges. They were all governors whose coronavirus policies have come under scrutiny. Alex Moffatt played California Gov. Gavin Newsom, Pete Davidson played New York Gov. Andrew Cuomo, and Cecily Strong played Michigan Gov. Gretchen Whitmer.
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The first contestant was a Michigan resident (Heidi Gardner), who claimed she was an essential worker because she works for OnlyFans, but this was not enough to get a vaccine. Next up was a woman (Ego Nwodm) who pretended to be old enough to qualify for the vaccine. Her excuses did not work either. Melissa Villasenor played a pregnant woman who wanted the vaccine. Unfortunately, no one really knew if she was qualified.
A New Jersey man (Bowen Yang) pretended to be a smoker just to get a vaccine because New Jersey was giving the vaccine to smokers. The next contestant was Texas Sen. Ted Cruz (Aidy Bryant), who pretended to be a stand-up comic. Lastly was an 85-year-old man (Mickey Day) who finally qualified for the vaccine. Sadly, he was told he needs to make an appointment online.
Last week, SNL opened with an episode of Oops You Did It Again, a daytime talk show hosted by Britney Spears (Chloe Fineman), who brought on notable people to apologize for their misdeeds. The first guest was Cruz, who was criticized for taking a trip to Cancun while the state he represents in the Senate was in the middle of a brutal winter storm. In real life, Cruz claimed he was going to Cancun to drop off his daughters and was then heading right back to Texas. “As someone who is often blamed for other people’s problems at a young age, maybe leave your daughters out of it because it could really mess with their heads,” Spears said.
The cold open also gave Davidson the first chance to play Cuomo, who has come under fire over the counting of nursing home coronavirus deaths. Cecily Strong later came onstage as Gina Carano, who was fired from The Mandalorian because of anti-Semitic and racist social media posts. Carano thought she had no reason to apologize. Cruz felt his case was similar to Carano’s, but she did not want to be linked to the “pile of soup.”
This week’s episode of SNL was hosted by Nick Jonas, who also performed on the show. Jonas also performed on the show as a solo artist in April 2016. He performed as a member of the Jonas Brothers with brothers Joe and Kevin on Feb. 14, 2009 and May 11, 2019. SNL airs at 11:30 p.m. ET on NBC.
