SNL's Jeff Sessions-as-Forrest Gump Cold Open Is Genius

Alec Baldwin didn't return to Saturday Night Live as President Donald Trump this week, but we got the next best thing: Kate McKinnon as Attorney General Jeff Sessions... as Forrest Gump.

The episode's cold open began with the signature theme music from the 1994 film starring Tom Hanks as a dim-witted Southerner who recounts his travails through historical moments to fellow bench-sitters waiting for a bus.

SNL's skit featured McKinnon as Attorney General Sessions, who, it was discovered this week, lied under oath during his confirmation hearings about having met with the Russian ambassador during the election.

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"I talked to the Russians," McKinnon-as-Sessions explained. "I met with a fellow who turned out to be Russian on account of, he was the Russian ambassador. ... I didn't know what to do, so my lawyer said, 'Run, Jeffrey, run!'"

Other highlights of the sketch included McKinnon's Sessions telling Leslie Jones, "I always say,'Life is like a box o' chocolates... Sure are a whole lotta brown ones in there!'" as well as a guest appearance by host Octavia Spencer, who appeared as her The Help character, Minny Jackson, and came bearing a special gift for Sessions.

The cold open wasn't McKinnon's only highlight of the episode. In a more subtle recurring bit, she did a recurring pose as a living Kellyanne Conway meme before every commercial break:

(image via Giphy)