“SNL” fans were pulling their hair out during Saturday’s episode thanks to a technical malfunction that caused the audio to go out of sync during the entirely of the cold open sketch and part of hosts Steve Martin and Martin Short’s monologue.
Fortunately the issue was fixed about a minute into the monologue, freeing fans up to enjoy what turned out to be a delightful routine by Short and Martin. And yes, their “Only Murders in the Building” costar Selena Gomez showed up for a cameo at the end. Watch that above now.
And in case you’re wondering, it wasn’t just you and your TV. While the full extent of the problem isn’t known, fans went to social media to complain about it, confirming the problem appears to have affected viewers across the country. Here’s a sample of what that looked and sounded like:
The monologue began with Martin bragging about the many times he’s hosted “Saturday Night Live,” with a photo montage of his previous appearances. Short then showed a montage of the times he’s hosted — sadly, none.
Then the monologue devolved into some of the duo’s trademark absurdist humor as, lit by the Christmas decorations on stage, they proceeded to roast one another with fake funeral eulogies that got progressively weirder, and meaner. And, to be clear, hilarious. It is Steve Martin and Martin Short we’re talking about.
You can see the cold open with corrected audio here:
But fans were of course still vexed by the issue, which appeared to continue for some users well into the show.
