Kate McKinnon’s Zoom Graduation Ceremony Is a Virtual Hell in SNL Cold Open

Saturday Night Live’s unconventional 45th season finale got off to a strong start, with Kate McKinnon as a high-school principal just trying to get through a quarantine graduation ceremony. “I know this isn’t how you expected you high-school career to come to an end,” she says. “But we’re all making sacrifices. I’ve had to share my child’s Adderall with him.” She goes on to explain that her ill-advised choice to let the school’s students vote on their keynote speaker has backfired in a big way — among their choices were Barack Obama, murder hornets, and Elon Musk and Grimes’s newborn baby. It turns out only their eighth choice, Donald Trump, said yes to this speaking engagement: “Congratulations to the class of COVID-19,” Alec Baldwin as Trump proclaims. “My valet got the virus so I had to do my own makeup. I had to resort to a Liza Minelli TikTok makeup tutorial.” After an off-color Adele joke, Baldwin breaks character a moment early to say, “Taped from my home, one last time, it’s Saturday night.”