Saturday Night Live rose to the unenviable challenge of putting on a comedy show the day after an unthinkable tragedy.
Forgoing a comedic cold open, the show began with the New York City Children's Chorus singing “Silent Night.”
After the song, the children delivered the standard “Live from New York” line, and the opening credits kicked in.
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This week’s episode is hosted by Martin Short, with musical guest Paul McCartney. Short did not address Friday's mass-shooting at a Newtown, Connecticut elementary school during his opening monologue. While some Hollywood-related events were postponed in light of the shooting, a spokesperson for the show told The Hollywood Reporter Friday the episode would continue as planned.
The show has dealt with putting on a show after tragedy before. In 2001, SNL's 27th season premiered 18 days after Sept. 11. That episode's cold open featured executive producer Lorne Michaels asking then-mayor Rudy Giuliani, "Can we be funny?"
"Why start now?" Giuliani's responded.
We’ll post video from Saturday's episode as soon as it’s made available.
Email: aaron.couch@thr.com
Twitter: @AaronCouch
