The “Coach Prime” effect has now gone live from New York on Saturday Night Live.
This time, SNL spoofed Deion Sanders, who has dominated college football headlines for his arrival to Colorado. Comedian Kenan Thompson impersonated Sanders not even 24 hours after Sanders watched his Buffaloes melt against Stanford 46-43 — which saw Colorado lead 29-0 at halftime.
SNL Skit Highlights Deion Sanders’ Extravagant and Polarizing Personality
Thompson’s act was part of SNL’s “Weekend Update” segment with Colin Jost.
Deion Sanders stops by the Update desk. #SNLPremiere pic.twitter.com/cf5QN8xT3I
— Saturday Night Live – SNL (@nbcsnl) October 15, 2023
Thompson, who hails from a city Sanders is familiar with, Atlanta, mimicked Sanders’ game-day attire that has made waves across CFB: Shades, a gold chain necklace, and a hoodie.
“We just keep winning, man,” Thompson said in the beginning. “Every game, every minute. We winning at life.”
Jost joked that Sanders’ team still stands at 4-3 now overall, including giving the remark, “So you’ve lost a few.”
Thompson as Sanders, though, quipped back.
“Colin, look at me, man,” the fictional Coach Prime said. “What about me makes you think that I care about what you think about me? You don’t understand that my team has it all, man. Coaching? Genius. Offense? Explosive. Defense? Trying. It’s a complete package, man.”
Stanford Game Was Mentioned
Again, in short timing, the ridicule toward the Buffaloes blowing a 29-point lead was brought up on SNL. Jost mentioned the loss to fictional “Coach Prime.” Thompson, jokingly, described what happened to Coach Prime in that game.
“Wasn’t that crazy?” the SNL version of Coach Prime said. “Man, we went up 29 to nothing at the half, so I went home and fell asleep. I woke up this morning as shocked as anyone.”
The last line drew laughs from the crowd. Thompson then finished with: “Nobody’s perfect. Name one team that’s undefeated.”
Jost, though, named off teams like Georgia, Michigan, and Ohio State. He even named Sanders’ alma mater Florida State — which got fictional Sanders to interrupt and say “forgot about them.”
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Furthermore, Thompson’s Sanders skit joked about how Sanders went to Jackson State because “God called me over there.” But then jokingly explained why he left for Boulder.
“Yeah, that’s right,” the SNL Prime said. “Because God called me again and was like, ‘My bad.’ And then he showed me the promised land of Colorado. I had these visions, Colin, a place where there was white people, like every single person was white … Not many people know this, but Colorado is an HWCU, or historically white college, kind of like where you went, Colin.”