A version of this story was originally published on LateNighter’s then-sister site, Primetimer, in 2022.
Every four years, the Winter Olympics arrive as a kind of cultural freeze-frame—two weeks in which athletic excellence, national pride, and broadcast spectacle collide. And for as long as Saturday Night Live has been on the air, it has been there to comment on it all, filtering the Games through its particular blend of topical satire, celebrity parody, and live-TV unpredictability.
From technical mishaps in the show’s first season to Jane Wickline’s existentially terrified luger this season, SNL’s Olympic output has evolved alongside both the show and the Games themselves. Sometimes that’s meant sharp political humor, sometimes affectionate ribbing of TV’s wall-to-wall coverage, and sometimes simply finding the funniest possible angle on a gold-medal moment or cultural scandal.
What follows is a chronological tour through every Winter Olympics that SNL has touched. Taken together, these sketches and segments offer a surprisingly rich record of how America’s longest-running sketch show has reflected—and refracted—the world’s biggest winter sports spectacle over 50 years.
Innsbruck 1976
SNL’s first foray with the Winter Olympics goes all the way back to the show’s first season, with a “Weekend Update” segment in which Garrett Morris reports on the Games “on scene” in Innsbruck, Australia, unaware that the Olympics had actually ended the day before.
The piece is perhaps most notable for a malfunctioning chroma key effect that left Chevy Chase to awkwardly vamp on camera before producers finally abandoned it altogether. Morris’ spot would mark the first of several times the Winter Games would figure prominently on Update over the years.
Lake Placid 1980
The 1980 Winter Olympics unfolded at the height of the Cold War, just weeks after the Soviet invasion of Afghanistan. Against that backdrop, the U.S. men’s hockey team’s stunning 4–3 upset of the heavily favored Soviets—soon dubbed the “Miracle on Ice”—became an instant symbol of national pride and political catharsis.
Airing the following night, “Weekend Update” opened with Jane Curtin reporting on the game to cheers from the audience, joking that “in accordance with a previously signed unilateral agreement, the Soviet Union will immediately withdraw all of its hockey players from Afghanistan.”
Sarajevo 1984
Eddie Murphy and Robin Williams as Olympic bobsledders? Yes, please. Unfortunately we only get them for less than a minute in this trifle of a Cold Open set at the 1984 Games.
Calgary 1988
For the Canadian-hosted Olympics in 1988, “Weekend Update” anchor Dennis Miller welcomed Kevin Nealon—then in his first season as a full-fledged cast member—to recap the Games. Nealon’s gag here is that he can’t remember certain words and ends up substituting other (often off-color) terms for words like “bobsled.”
Albertville 1992
Four years later, the Olympics took to France, and SNL marked the occasion with a Cold Open featuring Phil Hartman and Dana Carvey as Olympic commentators Verne Lundquist and Scott Hamilton as they call the men’s figure skating competition and in particular the hapless performance of Brian Demming.
The sole gag here is that Demming fails every jump and ends up sliding helplessly across the ice, but it’s worth watching to see host Jason Priestley, who was a red-hot teen idol as the star of Beverly Hills, 90210 at the time, doing most of his own skating, and the great Melanie Hutsell playing Demming’s intense mom.
Lillehammer 1994
25 Years Ago Today: A Nancy Kerrigan hosted “Saturday Night Live,” with Aretha Franklin as the musical guest, generates ratings that won’t be topped for 14 years. The highlight? Chris Farley’s performance & @DavidSpade’s commentary of Olympic ice skating pic.twitter.com/Vhd5sH8wVr
— Darren Rovell (@darrenrovell) March 12, 2019
The Lillehammer games were of course dominated by the Tonya Harding scandal, and all eyes were on American figure skating hopeful and assault victim Nancy Kerrigan, who ended up hosting the show on March 12, 1994, memorably using her monologue to answer questions from “Tonya Harding” (Hutsell).
But the most famous Olympics-influenced moment of the 1994 Olympics was Chris Farley‘s figure skating sketch where he played a champion pairs skater who’d gained weight before the Olympics. The sketch put all of Farley’s formidable physicality on display, and ended up being among his most iconic SNL performances.
Nagano 1998
In this parody of CBS’ coverage of the 1998 Games, Jim Nantz (Will Ferrell) interviews Canadian snowboarder Ross Rebagliati, who had briefly lost his gold medal after traces of marijuana were found in his system. Playing the Doritos-craving, Smash Mouth-loving stoner snowboarder? Jim Breuer, naturally, who jokes that he deserved a medal simply for not sleeping in on race day.
Salt Lake City 2002
The Salt Lake City Olympics marked an occasion for the United States to show we were back on our feet after 9/11, and the mood of determined positivity was felt throughout. Champion American skier Jonny Moseley got so much positive coverage from the games that he was invited to host the show on March 2nd. The episode wasn’t exactly a classic, but Moseley did get a chance to pal around with Jimmy Fallon and Rachel Dratch as the Boston Teens.
As for the Games themselves, Saturday Night Live was feeling the love, too, with only the gentlest of ribbing from Will Ferrell and guest Dan Aykroyd as Mormon proselytizers annoying a downhill skier played by Amy Poehler, who ends up being met at the finish line by another aggressive Mormon, this time played by a baby-faced Seth Meyers.
Torino 2006
In a rare “Weekend Update” runner, Natalie Portman dropped by the desk twice as Olympic silver medalist Sasha Cohen; once to perform both her “short joke program” and, later, her “long joke program,” while co-anchors Amy Poehler and Tina Fey provide color commentary.
SNL would reprise the bit when Natalie Portman returned to host the show 12 years later for another Winter Olympics–themed episode in 2018, this time with Kenan Thompson and Kate McKinnon offering commentary as she delivered her opening monologue.
Vancouver 2010
In a break from tradition, NBC broke from its wall-to-wall coverage of the 2010 games in Vancouver for a Jennifer Lopez-hosted episode of Saturday Night Live. Fittingly, Lopez and Fred Armisen tag-teamed on a sketch where they played studio hosts for Telemundo’s Olympics coverage who were constantly flummoxed by the details and popularity of winter sports.
Sochi 2014
The 2014 Winter Games were held in Sochi, Russia, amid controversy over the host country’s mistreatment of its LGBTQ citizens. SNL addressed on this with a sketch depicting a men’s figure skating competition without boycotting gays, leaving an all-heterosexual skating event that was devoid of artistry, grace, or talent of any kind, but plenty of homophobia and creepy male behavior.
Pyeongchang 2018
In real life, Leslie Jones‘s enthusiasm for watching the Olympics on social media led NBC to send her to cover the Summer Olympics in Rio de Janeiro in 2016 and again in Pyeongchang, South Korea for the Winter Games. Jones appeared on “Weekend Update” to recap the Games, as well as intimidate/flirt with Colin Jost (as was her wont). She brought with her gold-medal-winning ice hockey player Hillary Knight and instructed her to call him a bitch, ensuring a good time would be had by all.
Beijing 2022
In 2022, Bowen Yang brought his Chinese trade minister character Chen Biao back to “Weekend Update” to answer Michael Che‘s questions about NBC declining to send their commentators to Beijing amid COVID concerns. As usual, Yang’s “trade daddy” character comes armed with a basket full of rapid-fire references, most of which fly over Michael Che’s head, but it’s hard to resist his infectious confidence when speaking about everything from the Games’ panda-at-a-rave mascot to anal-swab COVID tests (they were accurate… and fun).
Milano Cortina 2026
SNL got an early jump on this year’s Olympic coverage with “Winter Olympics Promo,” which aired during Alexander Skarsgård’s January 31 episode. The sketch parodied NBC-style athlete profiles by introducing earnest snowboarder Tanner Lopez (Marcello Hernández), driven figure skater Claire Hardt (Chloe Fineman), and, most memorably, terrified luger Gertie Burper (Jane Wickline).
While Tanner and Claire deliver the expected platitudes about passion and purpose, Gertie reveals that she finds her sport horrifying, and succeeds largely because of her unusually perfect “shape.” Wickline plays the character’s panic for maximum effect, as Skarsgård’s coach encourages her by literally shoving her down the track and insisting that “the sport needs her.”
Saturday Night Live returns February 28 with host Connor Storie (who’s got some experience of his own with winter sports) and musical guest Mumford & Sons.
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