The NBC variety show opened Saturday’s episode mocking the CBS Super Bowl pre-game show featuring Kenan Thompson playing CBS Sports anchor, James Brown.
“Hello! Welcome to the Super Bowl – four hours of television for 11 minutes of action,” said Thompson’s Brown. “I’m James ‘No, not that one’ Brown.”
Thompson said this season has been anything but normal thanks to the pandemic and the racial and political divisions.
“But today we come together in a spirit of unity to watch football,” he said. “And kill billions of chickens for their delicious wings.”
Thompson’s Brown said the league has worked hard to keep Covid at bay all season and thankfully they only had “700 cases”.
The bogus CBS pre-game crew also said the ads for Sunday’s game – when the Kansas City Chiefs take on the Tampa Bay Buccaneers in Tampa – almost brought them to tears.
“SNL” then showed a fake ad for Cheez-Its featuring images of historical figures fighting injustice. The ad ended with the slogan, “Cheez-Its, historically delicious.”
That was followed by a fake ad “to compensate for progressive ads” from Papa John’s. It showed Papa John’s pizza alongside conspiracy theories and ended with the announcer saying “come over today with your Q-pon.”
“Wait, that’s a pizza ad?” Thompson’s Brown said.
After talking to the two Super Bowl coaches Andy Reid and Bruce Arians, both played by Aidy Bryant, the pre-game show ended with the final predictions for Sunday’s big game.
Former coach Bill Cowher, played by Alex Moffat, predicted that “Covid will address the Florida public at the end of the game and thank them for an incredible opportunity.”
The crew then said the show’s signature sign, “Live … from New York! It’s Saturday night.”