SNL mocks the Oscars red carpet in Cold Open

As the 95th Academy Awards begin tonight, producers and Academy members are all praying for a smooth, tasteful show that’s completely free of unexpected chaos. But the comedy writers of “Saturday Night Live” might be hoping for a slightly different outcome.

The sketch show used the cold opening hours on Saturday night to imagine what could go wrong at this year’s show. The sketch, which took the form of an Access Hollywood segment, began by glossing over the security measures taken to avoid more slaps.

“To make sure nothing crazy happens, the Academy has hired a new head of security: the notoriously calm and sane Mike Tyson,” red carpet host Heidi Gardner said before naming Kenan Thompson as the retired boxer.

“I am prepared to proceed judiciously and expeditiously,” Tyson said. “But I must warn you that the following things will excite you: applause, statues of golden men, shows lasting more than two hours, and the phrase ‘the magic of the movies.’

The show continued to poke fun at recent Oscar faux pas (and the prevalence of gambling-related content in sports broadcasts) and revealed that the Academy is partnering with DraftKings to offer live Oscar betting odds for “degenerate gamblers.” But instead of focusing on potential award winners, the segment encouraged viewers to place bets on things that could go wrong tonight.

The most popular bets were: “a young actor brings out an older actor in a wheelchair and immediately regrets it”, “an actress who made $20 million last year will say “we are all Ukraine” and “someone in In Memoriam segment is still alive.” At odds of a billion to one, the biggest long shot was “Harvey Weinstein introduces Kanye West”.

The segment featured red carpet interviews with nominees Jamie Lee Curtis (Chloe Fineman) and Colin Farrell and Brendan Gleeson (Mikey Day and Molly Kearny), and also introduced Bowen Yang as George Santos. This time, the fake congressman impersonated Tom Cruise — though he ended up having to duck out of the red carpet interview because he had to leave to “be everywhere at once.”

Watch the “Oscars Red Carpet Cold Open” from “Saturday Night Live” below.

(embed)https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oFTKCcVSTHY(/embed)

Register: Stay up to date with the latest movie and TV news! Subscribe to our email newsletter here.