25 best cold-opens in SNL history
By David Rouben
25. Ronald Reagan sells his re-election and Ginsu knives
Long before Donald Trump became president, Ronald Reagan was an entertainer that ended up occupying the White House. His acting career, which featured a lot of movie roles during the 1940s and 1950s, was largely forgettable, even though “actor” was the first thing Doc Brown associated Reagan with when Marty McFly told him that he’d be president.
After Reagan’s first term in office, in which he worked hard to fix the economy, it wouldn’t have been a surprise if everyone had forgotten about his acting career. But SNL, which had a Reagan-based cold open just in time for his re-election campaign, made sure to remind everyone about it by calling him a “TV President.”
They seemed to suggest that Reagan would make for a great infomercial presenter once he left the White House. In this sketch, Joe Piscopo does an effortless job of selling the American people on economic recovery, Ginsu knives, a land-based missile system and magic cards all at once. Ronco had to love this, too, since this was free advertising for them. Everyone sees ads for Ginsu knives late at night all the time, so it only made sense to do it on SNL.
Reagan was in office long enough for his term to last through a ton of different SNL casts. All told, seven different actors ended up playing him. However, while most would agree that they didn’t truly nail him until Phil Hartman took over the role, this short and sweet cold open proved that you don’t need a lot to work with in order to successfully pull off a good impression.