SNL takes a break from politics to poke fun at the Super Bowl in latest cold open


Politics were on the sideline during the latest Saturday Night Live episode's cold open, which instead focused on Sunday's Super Bowl LV.
The show parodied the CBS pregame show, with Kenan Thompson appearing as studio host James Brown ("No, not that one," he informs the audience), who was joined by analysts Boomer Esiason (played by Beck Bennett), Nate Burleson (Chris Redd), Bill Cowher (Alex Moffat), and Phil Simms (Mikey Day). There wasn't much football talk on set aside from some quick, insight-lacking remarks from the head coaches of the Tampa Bay Buccaneers and Kansas City Chiefs, Bruce Arians and Andy Reid (both played by Aidy Bryant).
Otherwise, commercials were the main topic of conversation, as the guys broke down what to expect between the action. After all, Thompson's Brown points out, there are four hours of television ahead, but just 11 minutes during which the ball will actually be in play. Watch the full skit below. Tim O'Donnell
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Tim is a staff writer at The Week and has contributed to Bedford and Bowery and The New York Transatlantic. He is a graduate of Occidental College and NYU's journalism school. Tim enjoys writing about baseball, Europe, and extinct megafauna. He lives in New York City.
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