Name: Feeling hopeful for the USA? The 'SNL' cold open has a reality check for you.
Uploaded: 2021-01-31T13:12:46+00:00
Description: In the first "Saturday Night Live" cold open of 2021, Kate McKinnon talks Marjorie Taylor Greene, GameStop (GME), Twitter and Facebook, and Tom Brady.

Feeling hopeful for the USA? The 'SNL' cold open has a reality check for you.

What still works? Not much, it turns out.

What still works in these United States of America? Not a whole lot, according to Saturday Night Live.

The latest SNL cold open, also the first of 2021, starts things off with a step away from the direct political parody that became a (debatable) gold mine for the show during the Donald Trump era. Instead, the eight-minute sketch delivers a Kate McKinnon-hosted talk show called "What Still Works?"

As each brief segment cycles through some of the most pressing topics on Americans' minds in January 2021 — including the detestable words and views of Congresswoman Marjorie Taylor Greene, the "GameStonk" blitz, and the almost-too-late maneuvers by Big Tech to de-fang Trump — to remind us all that actually no, the USA isn't in such great shape at the moment.

The day is seemingly saved when one of the country's sole truly functional star arrives: Tom Brady (John Krasinski). Definitely an uncomplicated guy with nothing dark or questionable in his history, right?

Topics SNL

Adam Rosenberg

Adam Rosenberg is a Senior Games Reporter for Mashable, where he plays all the games. Every single one. From AAA blockbusters to indie darlings to mobile favorites and browser-based oddities, he consumes as much as he can, whenever he can.Adam brings more than a decade of experience working in the space to the Mashable Games team. He previously headed up all games coverage at Digital Trends, and prior to that was a long-time, full-time freelancer, writing for a diverse lineup of outlets that includes Rolling Stone, MTV, G4, Joystiq, IGN, Official Xbox Magazine, EGM, 1UP, UGO and others.Born and raised in the beautiful suburbs of New York, Adam has spent his life in and around the city. He's a New York University graduate with a double major in Journalism and Cinema Studios. He's also a certified audio engineer. Currently, Adam resides in Crown Heights with his dog and his partner's two cats. He's a lover of fine food, adorable animals, video games, all things geeky and shiny gadgets.