Vladimir Putin gets his own solo cold open on this week’s SNL, giving Alec Baldwin the week off while the show celebrates the inauguration in a different way. With their paid message, complete with the RT logo in the corner, Russia and Vladimir Putin are celebrating their triumph. Beck Bennett’s shirtless Putin has quickly become a go-to character thanks to the election and it’s about time he got a chance to carry the entire cold open without Baldwin around — though he gets some help from Kate McKinnon here.
The show doesn’t tread much new ground here, but they don’t have to. They do manage to fit in a few knocks at Trump’s inauguration attendance numbers, but so much has happened today that it is impossible to keep up. That said, the best moment is probably Kate McKinnon’s Russian woman spying in from outside Putin’s office and donning one of the pink hats we saw people wearing during today’s Women’s March. You might want to worry about Putin a bit after that one.
All that said, it was nice not to have to see any Trump in the cold open. He got mentions and we still got jokes about his alleged “golden showers” sex tape, but most of us could use a break after Friday. There are a few years to get ready for now.
(Via SNL)