‘SNL’ Cold Open Parodies CDC’s New Mask Rules

Last night, Saturday Night Live Season 46’s penultimate episode kicked off with a cold open poking fun at the U.S. Centers for Disease Control’s confusing new mask rules after new guidelines were released this week. SNL mainstay Kate McKinnon played Dr. Anthony Fauci, who hosted introduced National Institutes of Health employees who happened to also be theater minors. They were supposed to easily explain when and where people should still wear face masks, but they took some liberties with the topics, veering into some NSFW territory.

The first sketch-within-a-sketch was one of the best, with Beck Bennett playing a man who enters a bar wearing a face mask. He asked Aidy Bryant if he could take off the mask since he was vaccinated. She said he could, but then he told her he wasn’t really vaccinated. “Well, I’m entering a bar at 11 a.m. Did you really think I was vaxxed? ‘Cause that’s on you,” Bennett said. “You’re right. I deserve COVID,” Bryant said. This was the end of the scene, but clearly not what Fauci wanted. “The real point is we have to trust each other, so please be honest and respectful,” Fauci said.

The next scene was also a standout. Ego Nwodim played a flight attendant while Bowen Yang played a businessman. Nwodim told him he could take his mask off while drinking. “By the way, I’ve been stuck inside for over a year. Want to bang?” Yang asked. After a pause and laughter from the audience, Nwodim said, “You know I do king!” She then hopped on his lap just before Fauci looked really embarrassed. “The lesson should have been you need masks on planes, not everybody horny now,” Fauci said.

After an episode hosted by Tesla CEO Elon Musk, SNL returned to a guest who makes sense for the show. Keegan-Michael Key, who has experience in sketch comedy on MadTV and Key and Peele, hosted, alongside Olivia Rodrigo as musical guest. Key won an Emmy for Outstanding Variety Sketch Series for Key and Peele in 2016, the same year he was nominated for Outstanding Supporting Actor in a Comedy for the show.

More recently, he voiced Ducky in Toy Story 4 and starred in Netflix movies The Prom and Jingle Jangle: A Christmas Journey. He also voices Murray in the Hotel Transylvania franchise. He is set to voice Honest John in Disney’s upcoming Pinocchio remake.

As for Rodrigo, she stars on Disney+’s High School Musical: The Musical: The Series. She recently broke out with her hit single “Drivers License,” which has already been parodied on Saturday Night Live. She is set to release her first studio album, Sour, on May 21. The album also includes the singles “Deja Vu” and “Good 4 U.” SNL airs on Saturdays at 11:30 p.m. ET on NBC. The season finale will be hosted by Anya-Taylor Joy, with Lil Nas X serving as musical guest.