Kate McKinnon returns to ‘SNL’ in a Fauci-led cold open that shreds the Cuomos

Kate McKinnon is back.

The Saturday Night Live star’s chameleonic antics took centerstage immediately in a cold open holiday message from Anthony Fauci. Starting with a bit we’ve seen before where the good doctor brings out CDC researchers to demonstrate best COVID-era practices — which they repeatedly get horribly, absurdly wrong — the cold open turns to politics, as these things do.

First it’s a visit from the Cuomo brothers (Pete Davidson as Andrew and Andrew Dismukes as Chris), who warn that they “both lost our jobs because of COVID.” Not quite, but sure guys. Next up it’s Marjorie Taylor Greene (Cecily Strong) and Lauren Boebert (Chloe Fineman), two members of the GOP’s Gun-toting Troll Caucus in the U.S. House of Representatives, who want to link our pandemic struggles to communism for some reason.

Last up is Aidy Bryant’s blistering take on Ted Cruz. When she first walks on and says, “If you’re sick of seeing me, imagine how sick I am of being me,” it almost sounds like a cry for help. But Bryant brings her trademark comedy chops to the Texas Senator’s unserious antics, reminding us again and again that Cruz, is in fact, pretty terrible in the way he operates.

You know, just your typical searing indictment of political buffoonery on an SNL cold open. Good times.