Oscars Mockery With Mike Tyson, Jamie Lee Curtis & George Santos Fizzles In ‘SNL’ Cold Open
deadline.comIt had to be the Academy Awards that got burned in tonight’s SNL cold open, didn’t it? But did it have to be this gammy cold open? “Last year’s Oscars had the slap, which was awesome, I mean bad, so bad,” said Heidi Gardner as “either Maria Menounos or Kit Hoover they haven’t told me which yet” in the NBC series’ first few minutes. “So, this year to make sure nothing crazy happens, the Academy hired a new head of security: notoriously calm and sane person, Mike Tyson,” she added as Kenan Thompson strolled on screen as the former heavyweight champion.
At that point, Saturday Night Live should have realized that it had a case of less is more. But the Lorne Michaels executive produced show wanted more. “I should warn you, the following things will set me off,” Thompson’s Tyson told Gardner’s Access Hollywood host and her Marcello Hernandez portrayed Mario Lopez sidekick. “Clapping, statutes of gold people, and shows that last more than three hours, and also hearing the phrase ‘the magic of movies,’” the fictional Tyson went on to say, with references to Oscar host Jimmy Kimmel being equipped with a “flamethrower” as a new security measure. “Seriously, how great is this?” exclaimed cast member Chloe Fineman as Jamie Lee Curtis next up in the longer than usual skit.
Was the fictional version of the Everything Everywhere All At Once star and Best Supporting Actress nominee being entirely rhetorical?
Maddeningly, an on-screen sidebar mid-cold open of Draft Kings taking bets on “George Santos pretending to be Tom Cruise,” “Chris Rock” showing up and the billion to one of “Harvey Weinstein Introduces Kanye West” teased how good this Oscar-centric skit could have been.
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