When Saturday Night Live finally returned from hiatus on Feb. 26, it returned to a world in turmoil. Faced with a shocking and swiftly escalating invasion of Ukraine by Russia, SNL chose a somber and moving cold open highlighting the Ukrainian Chorus Dumka of New York. But this week, with Joe Biden‘s State Of The Union address behind us and new updates overseas, SNL brought their signature satire to the political moment…..and met the mark with a hilarious cold open.
The Fox News Ukrainian Invasion Celebration Spectacular pic.twitter.com/OTWES5RMil
— Saturday Night Live – SNL (@nbcsnl) March 6, 2022
SNL came in hot from the beginning, starting the night off with a cold open featuring Kate McKinnon‘s infamous Laura Ingraham impression, which previously caused the right-wing pundit to call her out. and Alex Moffat as Tucker Carlson, where the pair skewer the right-wing commentators’ support of Russia during the Ukraine invasion. The hilarious opening sketch was even complete with Cecily Strong as Donald Trump Jr.’s girlfriend Kimberly Guilfoyle singing a rendition of “Shallow” that reveals her real desires to take over Ukraine.
But SNL wasn’t done yet, especially when it came to musical comedy. James Austin Johnson was back with his Donald Trump impression, and this time he had an emotional song dedicated to Russian President Vladimir Putin: “My Funny Valentine.” Hitting home Trump’s close relationship with the controversial president, the strong cold open found a way to skewer the political moment without minimizing the pain and turmoil Ukrainians are facing.
It’s been a hectic political moment for SNL to meet, as the whole world watches a troubling situation unfold between Ukraine and Russia. At the orders of President Putin, Russian forces first began performing “special military operations” in the Ukrainian capital of Kyiv on Feb. 24. Since then, Russia has begun a full-on invasion leading the United States to perform various sanctions on the nation, Ukrainian civilians to begin taking up arms, and stars across the entertainment world to speak out in support of Ukraine.
Last week, although SNL stayed away from any overt spoofs on the fresh and frightening situation, Colin Jost spoke out about Putin’s actions on Weekend Update, calling them a “colossal mistake.” He further got in shots against former president Donald Trump‘s support of Putin, joking: “Donald Trump praised Putin’s invasion of Ukraine saying, ‘this is genius’ — he also said ‘this is genius’ about his son Eric.”