For the cold open, James Austin Johnson returned as President Donald Trump to give his holiday address from the White House. Johnson addressed a lot of recent topics from the economy to the redacted Epstein files and more. He also addressed the recent addition of Trump's name to the John F. Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts in Washington, D.C.

Throughout this SNL season, Johnson has played Trump as too exhausted to function, and this cold open was no different. He was introduced by Ashley Padilla as White House press secretary Karoline Leavitt, who informed the media that, for Trump, “it’s very late, he’s exhausted, his brain is all over the place.”

A Bowen Yang character (that we’ve seen before) and an intern played by Josh O’Connor give blood results to a patient. This one goes absolutely nowhere, unless you want to see Yang and O’Connor kiss.

Saturday Night Live was once again new this week with first-time host Glen Powell (The Running Man) taking the lead with musical guest Olivia Dean. The cold open once again stuck with a political theme, this time tackling a White House press briefing.