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Saturday Night Live season 50 wrapped up with its finale on May 17, 2025. Over the course of 20 episodes spanning seven months, the iconic sketch comedy show featured a varied lineup of celebrity hosts and musical guests, delivering a variety of sketches and performances to entertain the audience.
SNL presents a wide range of sketch types throughout an episode to blend pop culture, satire, and character comedy.
However, cold open sketches often stand out the most among other types as they are featured before the opening credits, setting the energy and tone for the rest of the episode.
Season 50 delivered several standout cold open sketches that captured the attention of fans and racked up millions of views across the show's social platforms.
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From sharp political parodies to celebrity-packed moments, these cold opens helped define the season.
Top 3 Saturday Night Live season 50's most-watched cold open sketches
1. Elon Musk cold open (17 million views on YouTube)
First on the list with the most collective views for a Saturday Night Live season 50 cold open sketch is "Elon Musk cold open" from episode 13, which premiered on March 1, 2025.
The sketch satirized and highlighted the things that took place during the political meeting between Donald Trump, J.D. Vance, and Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy a day before, on February 28.
Saturday Night Live cast member James Austin Johnson once again took over the role of Trump. He was joined by Bowen Yang as Vice President Vance, and Mikey Day playing the role of a visibly uncomfortable Zelenskyy.
The sketch jokingly pointed out how Trump and Vance were more focused on getting a thank-you from Zelenskyy, rather than discussing the problems they were really facing.
After Trump criticized Zelensky for wearing such a casual outfit during such an important meeting, Elon Musk made his entry in his usual outfit, donning a t-shirt with sports court attire. Musk then went on to share how he was using his power at DOGE.
2. Harris and Trump rallies cold open (12 million views on YouTube)
Saturday Night Live 50's "Harris and Trump rallies cold open" featured in the very first episode of the season on September 28, 2024, currently has over 12 million views on YouTube.
The sketch brought Harris and Trump rallies to the forefront, parodying the 2024 presidential campaign trail.
It featured David Muir as the News anchor, Andrew Dismukes, checking in both Harris and Trump at their respective rallies.
Maya Rudolph returned as Kamala Harris and leaned in on some of the viral moments from her campaign, including her “coconut tree” analogy and segment where she compared her candidacy to a Sabrina Carpenter song, Espresso.
Maya was later joined by Andy Samberg, playing Kamala's husband Doug Emhoff, and Jim Gaffigan as her vice presidential candidate, Tim Walz.
The sketch then switched to a Trump rally, which saw James Austin Johnson back into the role of the former US president.
Through his character, he made fun of mistaking Kamal for being African American rather than Indian. He then invited his vice presidential candidate, JD Vance, who also had some words to say about the opposing candidate.
3. Family Feud election 2024 cold open (12 million views on YouTube)
"Family Feud election 2024 cold open" was featured during episode 3, which premiered on October 12, 2024.
Besides generating millions of views on different social platforms, it currently sits at over 12 million views on YouTube.
This sketch was a follow-up to "Harris and Trump rallies cold open" and showcased a Family Feud competition featuring Kenan Thompson as Steve Harvey hosting a battle round between Trump and Harris' respective terms.
Maya Rudolph returned as Kamala Harris and was accompanied by Andy Samberg playing the role of her husband, Doug Emhoff.
Her team also included Jim Gaffigan as Tim Walz and Dana Carvey as Joe Biden.
Meanwhile, Trump, played by James Austin Johnson, had only two allies on his side: his son, Donald Trump Jr., played by and his vice presidential candidate, JD Vance.
During the Saturday Night Live sketch, instead of focusing on the questions being asked by the host Steve Harvey, Trump and Kamala found every chance they got to criticize each other and their respective campaigns.
Saturday Night Live season 50 episodes premiere every Saturday on NBC.
