The NBC variety show opened Saturday’s episode by mocking the pre-CBS Super Bowl game starring Kenan Thompson playing CBS Sports anchor James Brown.
“Hello! Welcome to the Super Bowl: four hours of television for 11 minutes of action,” Brown said of Thompson. “I’m James.” No, not that “Brown.”
Thompson mentioned that this season has been anything but normal thanks to the pandemic, as well as racial and political divisions.
“But today we come together with a spirit of unity to watch football,” he said. “And kill billions of chickens for their delicious wings.”
Thompson’s Brown said the league worked hard to keep Covid at bay all season and luckily they only had “700 cases”.
The fake CBS crew before the game also mentioned that Sunday’s game announcements, when the Kansas City bosses face the Tampa Bay Buccaneers in Tampa, almost made them cry.
“SNL” then showed a fake Cheez-Its ad that contained images of historical figures fighting injustice. The ad ended with the phrase, “Cheez-Its, historically delicious.”
Then a fake announcement was made “to balance the progressive announcements” of Pope John’s. He showed Pope John’s pizza alongside conspiracy theories and ended with the advertiser saying “go with your Q-pon today.”
“Wait, is it a pizza ad?” Said Brown of Thompson.
After talking to the two Super Bowl coaches, Andy Reid and Bruce Arians, both played by Aidy Bryant, the pre-match program ended with the announcers making final predictions for Sunday’s big game.
Former coach Bill Cowher, played by Alex Moffat, predicted that “at the end of the game, Covid will address the Florida crowd and thank them for an incredible opportunity.”
The crew then said they were signing the show with the sign “Live … From New York! It’s Saturday night.”