NEW YORK (AP) — People’s Sexiest Man Alive of 2021 was indeed inducted into the vaunted Five-Timers Club on “Saturday Night Live,” but the surging omicron variant of the coronavirus meant there was no live audience to see it happen. Instead, viewers at home saw new sketches taped earlier in the week, as well as highlights from years past.
The long-running sketch comedy show announced on social media Saturday afternoon that the night’s episode, featuring “Ant-Man” star Paul Rudd as host, would tape without a live audience and with only limited cast and crew “due to the recent spike in the Omicron variant and out of an abundance of caution.”
By the time 11:30 p.m. Eastern time rolled around, the entire cast — save for Kenan Thompson — and most of the crew had been sent home, too, Tom Hanks told viewers. Hanks opened the show, which forewent its usual cold open skit, to announce the departure from the show’s planned Christmas episode. The episode was the NBC show’s last of 2021.
Hanks was joined by former “SNL” stalwart Tina Fey, both sporting their Five-Timers jackets.
“As you know, I started the Five-Timers Club,” Hanks said, addressing Fey.
Rudd was scheduled to return to Studio 8H as host for the fifth time — typically a milestone of much fanfare. Despite the show dispensing with its usual format, the pair announced that Rudd would still be inducted into the club and called Thompson, as the longest-tenured cast member, to do the honors.
“Congratulations on hosting the show four-and-a-half times,” Thompson told Rudd.
“Due to the limited crew at tonight’s taping of snl my musical performances will no longer be able to go ahead,” she wrote. “I am devastated and heartbroken.”
She then urged her fans to “look after yourselves out there and make sure you get vaccinated if you haven’t already.”
The show returned for its 47th year in September with 16 cast members and five featured players, a particularly crowded field. The size of the cast has allowed for atypical flexibility for its high-profile members, who can now take time off for other projects during the season.
The show said on social media that those who had won tickets to the night’s show would receive more information soon.
New York state reported Saturday that nearly 22,000 people had tested positive for COVID-19 on Friday — eclipsing the previous day’s mark for the highest single-day total for new cases since testing became widely available. More than half the positive results were in the city. Omicron is expected to become the dominant coronavirus variant in many countries within weeks.
Associated Press writer Bobby Caina Calvan contributed to this story.
Copyright 2021 The Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed without permission.
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