'Saturday Night Live' Mocks Government's Coronavirus Efforts and Democratic Candidates in Jam-Packed Cold Open

Saturday Night Live
NBC

The show opened with another politically charged sketch.

Saturday Night Live returned for their first time after a three-week hiatus and came back strong with a jam-packed Cold Open mocking the government's efforts to battle coronavirus, as well as the still wide-open field of Democratic presidential candidates.

The politically charged sketch kicked off with a White House press conference led by Mike Pence (Beck Bennett), who explained, "We've assembled a brilliant team of the most talented people left in government."

Pence was joined by Ben Carson (Kenan Thompson) for an update on the epidemic, and his best advice was to buy some "Make America Great Again" face masks. However, it'll take a while for them to come in, since they're made in Wuhan, China.

After asking the press not to politicize the virus or people's reactions, Pence took questions from the reporters. The first came from Democratic candidate Mike Bloomberg (SNL alum Fred Armisen), and the entire sketch quickly became another version of the guest-star packed Democratic debate sketches that have become a recurring fixture of the season.

This week, host John Mulaney took on the role of Joe Biden (after the former Vice President was played by Woody Harrelson and Jason Sudekis), and Pence called out the change, asking, "Joe Biden? You look different."

"Yeah, the surgery is starting to settle," Mulaney's Biden shot back, while rocking a South Carolina beauty pageant sash.

Larry David also stepped out from the audience, proclaiming how his life has never been better since the coronavirus breakout began.

"Nobody wants to come near me, much less touch me! I'm in heaven," David's Sanders exclaimed, also adding, "Universal healthcare doesn't sound too crazy now, does it?"

Meanwhile, Colin Jost once again portrayed Pete Buttigieg, who still can't believe that he's not winning everyone over.

"I'm the only one up here who's not going to lose," Buttigieg said.

"To Trump?" Amy Klobuchar (Rachel Dratch) asked.

"No, to the Coronoavirus," the comparably young Buttigieg shot back. "You're all in very high-risk demographics."

SNL airs live coast-to-coast on Saturday at 11:30 p.m. ET, 8:30 p.m. PT on NBC.

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