Colin Jost on How SNL Cold Opens Get Made

Colin Jost says Saturday Night Live’s cold opens are designed primarily to warm up the studio audience. Cast members perform a musical warm-up after the crowd is seated, then “there is like, 10 minutes of jazz,” he notes, calling it “a true cold open: You are going from an ice-cold vibe in here.” Getting the audience laughing early is a difficult and important task for both writers and performers.

Jost walked through the cork board in Lorne’s office that holds an episode’s potential sketches, explaining the numbers behind the process: the writing staff turns out roughly 45 to 50 sketches a week, and only about eight or nine make the show. He demonstrated by pinning his dream cold open, the 2008 “Katie Couric Interviews Sarah Palin” with Amy Poehler and Tina Fey, saying it holds up as one of the best in the show’s history.

colin jost, snl, cold open, lorne michaels, writing staff, sketches, studio audience, katie couric, sarah palin, tina fey