Saturday Night Live kicked off 2026 with a political satire that didn’t just tease the headlines — it blasted them apart. In the Jan. 17 episode’s opening cold open, the long-running late-night staple delivered a scene that felt like a wild cabinet meeting gone off the rails, blending absurd comedy with real-world controversies and leaving viewers laughing, groaning, and debating all at once.
James Austin Johnson reprised his infamous impression at the center of the chaos, addressing the audience with a mock briefing that zipped through a surreal recap of recent global and domestic headlines. In just a few minutes, SNL skewered everything from Nobel Peace Prize envy to bizarre foreign adventures — all with an over-the-top comic twist.
“Reverse Santa,” Nobel Prizes, and a Rogue Cabinet
The sketch begins with cheerfully recounting his holiday break: claiming he’d gotten “someone else’s Nobel Peace Prize” and cheekily describing the capture of Venezuelan President Nicolás Maduro as if it were a holiday gift pulled from a stocking.
But then it proceeds to unravel into a cabinet meeting straight out of comedy club lore. Familiar SNL cast members portray exaggerated Trump officials: Marcello Hernández as Marco Rubio, Jeremy Culhane as Vice President JD Vance, Ashley Padilla as Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem, and Colin Jost returning as the unabashedly bombastic Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth. Each gets their moment of absurdity, from self-important posturing to mock recruitment pitches for federal agencies.
Punchlines With a Punch
Noem’s introduction alone — complete with a jokey shout-out to her own makeup team — cleverly lampooned political PR spin, while Pete Hegseth’s swagger-and-scream routine injected a heavy dose of chaotic energy. As one of the episode’s most memorable zingers, the sketch even culminated in a mock declaration that the U.S. midterm elections were “canceled”, a line that has already ricocheted across social media.
Sharp Satire Meets Real Tension
While SNL has always been known for skewering the powerful, this particular cold open landed in the midst of real debate — juxtaposing playful mockery with references to polarizing national tensions such as federal actions in Minneapolis and immigration enforcement. The result plays like a comedy sketch and a biting cultural critique rolled into one.
The episode itself was hosted by Finn Wolfhard, who took the stage fresh off the end of Stranger Things with a self-aware monologue about transitioning from child star to adult performer. Coupled with a standout musical set by A$AP Rocky, the night balanced political satire with pop-culture fun, giving viewers plenty to unpack long after the credits rolled.
Why This Matters
Love it or shake your head at it, SNL’s first sketch of the year proved that the show isn’t easing up on political satire in 2026 — it’s doubling down. With razor-sharp takes on headlines and an irreverent delivery that both amuses and provokes, this cold open shows that SNL is still in prime form when it comes to turning the world’s chaos into must-see television