SNL: John Krasinski fields incessant The Office references in opening monologue as host

Krasinski portrayed Jim Halpert on the iconic sitcom

John Krasinski and Pete Davidson on Saturday Night Live (Twitter/nbcsnl)

John Krasinski made his hosting debut on Saturday Night Live on Saturday (31 January), fielding incessant references to The Office from his fellow comedians during his opening monologue.

The actor was originally supposed to host SNL – which he identified on Saturday as his favourite show – in 2020, but the coronavirus pandemic delayed his participation for almost a year.

Much of his opening monologue was devoted to his former role as Jim Halpert on the US version of The Office.

While Krasinski hasn’t portrayed Jim since the show wrapped up in 2013, several SNL comedians jokingly interjected during Krasinski’s monologue, posing as fans of the series asking him to resurrect the character.

Ego Nwodim complained that Krasinski has become more muscular (which he attributed to working out to play Jack Ryan in the eponymous TV series) while Jim “is soft”.

Krasinski was then asked repeatedly to “kiss Pam” – a reference to Jim’s famous on-screen romance with Pam Beesly (portrayed by Jenna Fischer).

Krasinski tried to argue that Pam is a fictional character, but that argument fell flat.

Eventually, Pete Davidson joined the skit and told Krasinski with faux seriousness that the audience wouldn’t give up until he had, in fact, kissed Pam, and that someone had to step up to the plate.

The opening monologue ended with Krasinski and Davidson exchanging a kiss, much to the audience’s delight.

Saturday’s episode marked the first original SNL episode of 2021, and the first of Joe Biden’s presidency.

In the cold open, Krasinski joined Kate McKinnon in a skit devoted to a fictional programmed titled “What Still Works?”, the aim of which was to identify what still functions in the US nowadays.

Krasinski played NFL star Tom Brady, identified in the skit as one of the few entities that perhaps still work as expected.