‘I Came to Chew Ass And Kick Bubblegum!’ SNL Savages Herschel Walker in Pre-Runoff Cold Open

Saturday Night Live kicked off the seventh episode of the new season by savagely lampooning Georgia Republican Senate candidate Herschel Walker just days before the state’s high-stakes runoff.

Nope star Keke Palmer was the guest host on this week’s edition of Saturday Night Live. Palmer was hosting for the first time, and told CNN “I’m thrilled to the moon. I just can’t wait. I know it’s gonna be so much fun. I’m really excited about it and just looking forward to doing it. I think it’s gonna be a unique experience, but also some familiar territory. And then it’ll just be fun seeing how they do it, you know, on their side of it. Because I love sketch.”

SZA was the musical guest.

But before Palmer could begin her hosting stint, the cast of the long-running sketch show performed its 939th cold open, a long-running gag in which the show performs a parody — usually related to current events — that ends with performers breaking character and exclaiming “Live from New York, it’s Saturday Night!”

The very first cold open — on October 11, 1975 — lasted only 96 seconds and featured Chevy Chase uttering the catchphrase as a confused production assistant on a new show that was then called simply NBC’s Saturday Night. Early cold opens — colds open? — featured Chase performing a pratfall, often in character as then-President Gerald Ford.

It has evolved into an often elaborate and anticipated part of the show that can run closer to ten minutes, and almost always parody current events. Although often uneven in quality and a magnet for jabs from critics, the cold open is also often the most talked-about part of the show.

This week’s cold open featured a sendup of Walker being advised by a Senate Leader he called “Mitch McDonald’s.” Walker faces off against incumbent Sen. Rphael Warnock in a runoff election Tuesday.

Watch above via NBC’s Saturday Night Live.