Instead of politics, the opening sketch took on pop culture.
Instead of focusing on a political event, Saturday Night Live’s cold open presented a parody of Family Feud that pitted Game Of Thrones against the Avengers. Kenan Thompson played Steve Harvey in the sketch that celebrated the two biggest franchises existing in pop culture.Â
Each SNL castmember donned costumes resembling popular characters from the HBO show and Marvel film. For the Game of Thrones side, Kate McKinnon played Brienne, who was recently knighted during an episode of the final season. Cecily Strong played Melisandre, whereas Kyle Mooney played Bran.Â
On the Avengers side of things, Alex Moffat played Thor and Leslie Jones comically played Groot. Meanwhile, Beck Bennett played villain Thanos (with his hand decorated in infinity stones).
Instead of actually playing the game, each character simply made quips about their respective show and film. “Bitch, I’m Groot,” Jones repeatedly said throughout the sketch.
Melissa Villaseñor showed up halfway through the cold open to save the feud as Arya Stark. Thompson’s Harvey praised the character for her moment in the HBO’s show recent epic battle scene.Â