25 best cold-opens in SNL history

9. Robin Williams’ one-hit wonder as Ronald Reagan

Impersonators for Ronald Reagan came and went during his time in office. Phil Hartman is considered the best Reagan, but Robin Williams played him one time and it was unforgettable. Sadly, both of those actors are no longer with us.

The premise for this cold open is simple. Reagan took a press conference, and had two people in his ear telling him how to properly respond to questions. It was doomed to fail when he had to walk out at the start of his press conference, because they told him what to say while he was taking a dramatic pause.

Reagan started to get into a groove during the first few questions, as they even helped him pick out favorable reporters. But the presser started to turn when they lost frequency and Reagan started repeating what was playing on the radio. It may have been a shock to hear him say “negro” while repeating a police report, but it wasn’t as much of a hot-button word back in the ’80s. Of course, he only made matters worse when he said he was describing the new ambassador for South Africa.

For the last minute, all they did was switch between frequencies and watch as Reagan went through the greatest hits on the radio. He repeated everything to the press, from a basketball game to a traffic report to a rap song and The Doors. Chances are, the only line of Williams’ that was scripted during that tirade was “Live from New York, it’s Saturday night.” We don’t know for sure if the reporters caught on to the fact that he was wearing an earpiece, although they likely mentioned it in their stories the next morning.

While it was obvious before, this sketch only serves to highlight the incredible range Williams had as an actor. The only regret is that he didn’t appear in more episodes of SNL.