Prime Time on Saturday Night Live: Kenan Thompson as Deion Sanders

"God called me again, and was like, 'My bad.' And then he showed me the promised land of Colorado."

October 15, 2023

Image: man in white hoodie with interviewer

Saturday Night Live via YouTube

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The Writers Guild strike ended just in time for Saturday Night Live to take on "two-sport legend" and current CU Buffs coach Deion Sanders in a "Weekend Update" segment during the season premiere, with Kenan Thompson in Coach Prime's trademark sunglasses and hoodie.

"We just keep winning, man, every game, every minute," he told anchor Colin Jost. "We winning at life."

Not quite true, pointed out Jost, since the team had just added another loss to Stanford the night before in double overtime.

"Wasn't that crazy? We were up 29-0 and nothing at the half," Thompson/Sanders replied. "So I went home and fell asleep. I woke up this morning shocked as anyone."

But "coaching is a higher calling," Coach Prime added, explaining his move to Boulder with this: "God called me again, and was like, 'My bad.' And then he showed me the promised land of Colorado. I had this vision, 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."

The segment even included a clip from Sanders's appearance on the show in 1995, when he was in his prime as an athlete and even sang, wearing a shocking pink suit.

The hoodie is a definite improvement. See the October 14 segment here:
Now, if only Coach Prime, the show starring the real Deion Sanders that just received a $500,000 subsidy from the State of Colorado, could score as big...

Patricia Calhoun is editor-in-chief of Westword, the alt-weekly she co-founded in September 1977. She’s been inducted into the Colorado Press Association Hall of Fame, the Association of Alternative Newsmedia Hall of Fame and the Colorado Restaurant Association Hall of Fame. She’s also received dozens of local, state and national awards for writing, including first place for feature writing and first place for column writing with the Society of Professional Journalists. Patricia is a weekly commentator on Colorado Inside Out, PBS 12's public affairs roundtable, which has won two Emmys.

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