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Phoebe Waller-Bridge makes her Saturday Night Live
The Fleabag star has shot to global acclaim over the past year, with unanimous praise for the second season of her sitcom about an angry and confused young woman navigating her dysfunctional life in London.
She received three Emmys for the show at this year's ceremony, and has since been snapped up by Amazon to curate and produce shows for its Prime streaming service.
Fans will no doubt be eager to see what Waller-Bridge comes up with. Among the greatest of SNL traditions is the cold open – the skit that launches the show – with Tina Fey, Melissa McCarthy, Alec Baldwin, Michael J Fox, Larry David, Chevy Chase and Will Ferrell offering some of the best.
Ahead of the show, we went through some of the greatest cold opens in SNL
Click through the gallery below to see our picks:
Show all 10 1 /10The 10 best cold opens on Saturday Night Live The 10 best cold opens on Saturday Night Live First presidential debate Before Alec Baldwin’s Donald Trump, there was Will Ferrell’s George W Bush. Ferrell’s brashness as the then-presidential candidate, as well as Darrell Hammond’s uncanny portrayal of Gore, are comedy gold. What’s truly amazing, though, is that this skit seems to imply that Bush is too stupid to win the presidency – which he of course did, a month to the day after the sketch aired. Sounds familiar, right?
The 10 best cold opens on Saturday Night Live Sarah Palin and Hillary Clinton address the nation Tina Fey’s portrayal of Sarah Palin made history for a reason – it was perfect in every way and could only be magnified by the addition of Amy Poehler as Hillary Clinton . Under the guise of presenting a nonpartisan message about the 2008 presidential campaign (the skit aired on 13 September, 2008, two months before Barack Obama’s victory), Palin, who was John McCain’s running mate, tries to pitch herself as the perfect candidate for the presidency. Poehler’s Clinton, in turn, exclaims: “Noooo mine!”
The 10 best cold opens on Saturday Night Live The wolverines SNL’s first skit was also one of its best. In this inaugural sketch, which aired on 11 October, 1975, John Belushi teams up with his fellow original cast member Michael O’Donoghue to play a foreign man trying to learn English, only for his tutor to display an unsettling fixation on wolverines. Both apparently drop dead before a denim-clad Chevy Chase steps in to deliver the now-iconic line: “Live from New York, it’s Saturday night!” Absurd, goofy and slightly odd, this sequence set the tone of the sketch show for decades to come.
The 10 best cold opens on Saturday Night Live Joint session In March 1991, George H W Bush addressed Congress on the end of the Gulf War, prompting several bouts of rapturous applause in the process. That moment, naturally, was spoofed on SNL that same month with Dana Carvey as a self-congratulatory president and Michael J Fox as his confused vice-president Dan Quayle, who struggles to clap at the right times.
The 10 best cold opens on Saturday Night Live Steve Martin does a musical Before Alec Baldwin took the record for most appearances as SNL host, Steve Martin held the honour despite never being a regular cast member. As you can see in this cold open, he just wasn’t that bothered about joining full-time. The skit opens in his dressing room where he becomes nostalgic over his old King Tut costume. From there, he bursts into a Broadway-style performance reminisces about the good old days.
The 10 best cold opens on Saturday Night Live The Bush twins While Will Forte did an admirable impression of President George W Bush, it was Tina Fey and Amy Poehler who stole the show as the Bush twins, who communicate in a secret language by adding the letter “b” to everything. “B-what b-about the b-weapons b-of b-mass b-destruction?!”
The 10 best cold opens on Saturday Night Live Donald Trump, president-elect press conference He may have hated acting out Donald Trump's creepy, bizarre mannerism, but Alec Baldwin's portrayal of 45 won him an Emmy and plenty of acclaim. For good reason: Baldwin's version of Trump is so good it's actually rather unpleasant to watch.
The 10 best cold opens on Saturday Night Live Sean Spicer press conference Melissa McCarthy was a better Sean Spicer than Sean Spicer ever was. From the giant stick of gum to the low mutter of “oh boy” before trying to read out the name of the leader from “central Asia”, she mastered every single tick the former White House Communications Director had. Arguably the best moment is “Spicer” raging at New York Times reporter, Glen. Trying to flog some of Ivanka Trump’s jewellery comes a close second.
The 10 best cold opens on Saturday Night Live Democratic debate Before he drew acclaim for his portrayal of a pouting, tantrum-throwing Trump, Alec Baldwin nailed his impression of former US senator Jim Webb. He’s not the highlight of this cold open, though. That honour goes to Larry David as Bernie Sanders, who is uncanny in his likeness of the presidential candidate.
The 10 best cold opens on Saturday Night Live Ford on the phone Chevy Chase’s turn as a fumbling Gerald Ford made such an impact that the real president joined a subsequent episode of SNL on 17 April, 1976. In this 8 November, 1975 skit, Chase’s Ford, while attempting to address the nation and comment on Ronald Reagan’s announcement that he would run for president, presses a full glass of water against his ear instead of his phone handset, struggles to transfer a call, mishandles charts, and takes a momentous tumble over his own desk. Delightful.
Or watch the video compilation below!
The Independent's 10 best cold opens on Saturday Night Live 
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