Posted in: NBC, Peacock, TV | Tagged: saturday night live, snl

SNL Cold Open: Trump Cancels Midterms; Padilla/Noem, Culhane/Vance

The first SNL Cold Open for 2026: Jeremy Culhane's VP JD Vance, Ashley Padilla's Kristi Noem, Trump canceling the 2026 midterms, and more.

Tonight, NBC's Saturday Night Live returned from its midseason break with host Finn Wolfhard (Stranger Things 5) and musical guest A$AP Rocky, the first of three new shows this month. On January 24th, Teyana Taylor (One Battle After Another) will host, with Geese as the musical guest. Following that, on January 31st, Alexander Skarsgård (Pillion) will host, with musical guest Cardi B. As for tonight, we offered a rundown of five things to keep in mind heading into tonight's show (more on that below), with one of them being the SNL Cold Open. If you've been keeping up on the news, then you know that a lot's gone down since the long-running sketch comedy and music series was last on our screens. So, what did SNL have to kick off 2026?

We're getting a message from Trump (James Austin Johnson), who kicks things off with a Nobel Peace Prize and Nicolás Maduro joke about getting them in his stocking. From there, Trump introduces Marco Rubio (Marcello Hernandez) and VP JD Vance (Jeremy Culhane). Trump cuts off Rubio when he starts speaking Spanish, saying that doesn't go on there. Following that, Trump lets Vance talk while he wanders around and looks out the window. Next, we get Ashley Padilla's DHS head, Kristi Noem, taking the podium, mocking the "requirements" needed to be an ICE agent. Next up, "Dept. of War" head Pete Hegseth (Colin Jost) goes "bro mode" while describing what they did to Venezuela and what we're going to do to Iran before demonstrating some really weird cowbell exercises. Trump wraps things up by letting everyone know the midterm elections are canceled before hitting the opening.

SNL 51 Pregame: 5 Thoughts Ahead of Tonight's Midseason Return

Any Reactions/Responses to Kam Patterson's Comments? Earlier this week, the news hit that Kam Patterson had some not-so-great things to say about joining SNL and his run on it so far during the Netflix comedy special, Kill Tony: Once Upon a Time in Texas. "I'm gonna be honest, I'm gonna keep it 100-percent with y'all. In the nicest way possible, it's gay. It's really gay, dog… Understand something, I was on national television doing this," Patterson said at one point, imitating a hand gesture from an SNL sketch. "I've shot at somebody before. You understand me? [repeats hand gesture] You understand how crazy that change is in life?" It will be interesting to see how much screen time Patterson gets tonight, what sketches he appears in, and if any other cast members drop a reference during the show.

What Will Saturday Night Live Season 51 AY (After Yang) Look Like? Tonight marks the first SNL after Bowen Yang's departure. Now that we've all had our time to say our goodbyes, it's time to get down to the business at hand. Who's going to step up from the featured cast? Ashley Padilla has been killing it, so she just needs to keep doing what she's doing. I'm hoping to see more of Veronika Slowikowska and Jane Wickline, who sold me on their being long-running cast members with "Cousin Planet."

SNL Cold Open: Where to Begin? From the Epstein Files and being gifted a Nobel Peace Prize to taking over Venezuela and so much more, the SNL writers aren't lacking in steaming piles of Trump-related nonsense to work with. If they're sticking with recent events, we can see ICE agents going nuts in Minneapolis and Trump threatening to take over Greenland at the top of their list.

Can Finn Wolfhard Pass the Test? I've been noting it since the season kicked off, and it became even more evident as Season 51 rolled on. SNL's writers have been offering up sketches that need a host to either have some level of comedic acting chops or be willing to surrender themselves, mind, body, and soul to the SNL process. I'm interested to see if Wolfhard can meet the moment and shine – I don't have a read on that yet (though I'm feeling much more confident in Teyana Taylor and Alexander Skarsgård).

Can We Expect an SNL "X Factor"? Ever since that weird thing that went down with Morgan Wallen walking off in the middle of the "goodnights" while the cameras were still rolling, so he could get back to "God's country" sooner rather than later, there's a part of my brain that stays on alert for the "X Factor" that could go down. Of course, we always have the possibility of a stage/production issue, and sketch "breaking" is something we've come to expect every now and then. But with SNL being one of the few remaining shows running "live," it's a safe bet to always be ready for anything.

The Season 51 cast includes Michael Che, Mikey Day, Andrew Dismukes, Chloe Fineman, Marcello Hernandez, James Austin Johnson, Colin Jost, Sarah Sherman, Kenan Thompson, and Bowen Yang, along with current featured players Ashley Padilla and Jane Wickline. Joining them are newcomers Ben Marshall, Tommy Brennan, Jeremy Culhane, Kam Patterson, and Veronika Slowikowska.

New writers for this season include actor-writer Jack Bensinger (Rap World), stand-up comedian Jo Sunday (Just for Laughs), comic Maddie Wiener (The Tonight Show Starring Jimmy Fallon), actor and writer Rachel Pegram (Harley Quinn), writer-comedian Claire McFadden (Second City), Maxwell Gay (The Harvard Lampoon), and Tucker Flodman (The Harvard Lampoon). NBC's Saturday Night Live premiered on Oct. 11, 1975, and broadcasts live from NBC's famed Studio 8H in New York City's Rockefeller Center. The program is a production of Broadway Video in association with SNL Studios. Lorne Michaels is the executive producer.

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