'SNL' Keeps It Familiar With Fox News in Cold Open for Will Forte and Maneskin Episode

By Andrew Roberts

After a quality return to start January, SNL seeks to deliver an episode for longtime fans with the return of Will Forte to 30 Rock. The MacGruber star is the latest former cast member to return and host the long-running sketch series.

To kick off the episode, Fox News was once again the whipping child. Specifically, it was The Ingraham Angle with Laura Ingraham, going over the sideways reality they attempt to sell over with the GOP. Aidy Bryant pops in as Ted Cruz, prepping another trip to Cancun and exhibiting the trademark lack of spine the real Cruz lives with daily.

We also get another Pete Davidson appearance in the cold open, this time as Novak Djokovic, post-Australia deportation. While he's still a far way from becoming the latest chameleon in the cast, Davidson is really expanding this season.

We also get James Austin Johnson back as Donald Trump, tapping into viral territory with a Wordle board and the top-notch impression that gained a lot of fans on Twitter. This Trump even talks about Lizzie McGuire, Jason Momoa, Prada, Tiffany Trump, and some other bits it was hard to catch during the flow.

It isn't exactly a must-see opening to the episode, but it is still a great leap away from the Alec Baldwin oversaturation in the past few years. It also doesn't take away from Forte's hosting stint, hopefully featuring plenty of memorable past sketches.

Joining Forte as the musical guest are Eurovision winners Maneskin. The group won the annual song contest back in May and has since grown in popularity, especially on TikTok with their cover of "Beggin" by Frankie Valli and the Four Seasons.

The band's jump to fame was on Italy's version of The X-Factor, which the group talked about during a chat with Variety. "At first, we weren't very sure of going [on The X Factor] because of the way television shows are seen and perceived," they told Variety. "Often people think that they're fake, but then we thought it was just a chance to share our music with a big audience."

Forte is one of the final members of his SNL class to host the show, which was the topic of his monologue along with some jokes about MacGruber season 2, his patience in waiting so long to host, and then finally the revelation that there was a mistake in who is hosting this week and next week.

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