Jeremy Culhane debuts as JD Vance in SNL cabinet-meeting cold open

Nbc reports Saturday Night Live’s first cold open of 2026 introduced new cast member Jeremy Culhane as Vice President JD Vance, taking the role after Bowen Yang’s exit from the show on December 20.

James Austin Johnson’s Trump opened by saying he “got a makeover” and traded holiday anecdotes — “I got what I wanted — my very own someone else's Nobel Prize,” and “In my stocking, I got Maduro, Nicolas Maduro. We did a reverse Santa on him.” After Secretary of State Marco Rubio (Marcello Hernández) urged him not to mention Jeffrey Epstein, Trump let Vance take the podium.

Culhane’s Vance delivered, “I came here to do two things — kick bubble gum and chew ass, and I'm all out of bubble gum,” before Trump wandered off to stare out the window. Ashley Padilla took over Kristi Noem, wearing large prosthetic lips in a sequel to Tina Fey’s October 11 ICE-recruiting bit, with lines including, “Is your neck wider than your head? ... grab a gun, any gun, and saddle up, big boy,” and “my last name is Noem. As in, 'do I have this situation under control? Noem, I don't.'” The cold open also featured Colin Jost as Secretary of War Pete Hegseth.

Key Topics

Culture, Saturday Night Live, Jeremy Culhane, Jd Vance, James Austin Johnson, Kristi Noem