Kaitlan Collins joins 'SNL' live audience to see impersonation, meets cast member

Kaitlan Collins was in the house to see Kaitlan Collins on “Saturday Night Live” just days before the US presidential election.

The CNN anchor and Alabama native revealed online that she attended the appearance, which featured “SNL” cast member Chloe Fineman reprising her identity in the cold opening segment. The same sketch also featured Vice President Kamala Harris facing off against her “SNL” co-star Maya Rudolph.

Previously featured in the skit were James Austin Johnson as former President Donald Trump, Bowen Yang as Senator JD Vance, Andy Samberg as Doug Emhoff and Dana Carvey as President Joe Biden.

“It was fun to be in the audience for this play,” Collins said Posted on X/Twitter.

Fineman posted an Instagram story after the show with a photo of her with Collins on the “SNL” stage. “WILD to play @kaitlancollins and [then] finally meet!” Collins reposted the story on her IG stories.

It was the third time that Fineman portrayed Collins in the 50th season of the legendary late-night sketch comedy show.

During the season premiere with host Jean Smart and musical guest Jelly Roll, Fineman's version of Collins appeared in a parody of Charlie XCX's “Talk Talk Show” with Bowen Yang as Charlie XCX and Smart as event producer Susanne Bartsch. Yang's Charlie XCX asked Fineman's Collins questions outside her comfort zone in politics.

Collins said her phone “exploded” while she was at the Alabama-Georgia game in Tuscaloosa on Sept. 28. “The Bama game had just ended and I was still in the stadium,” she said. “My phone was at about five percent and I thought it was about the game.

And on Oct. 12, Fineman again played Collins in a cold open with host Ariana Grande and musical guest Stevie Nicks when she joined “Family Feud” after the skit said former President Donald Trump was attending a second debate Harris disagreed.

In 2023, CNN announced that Collins would take over the network's core primetime 8 p.m. slot, previously occupied by Chris Cuomo, whom the network fired in December 2021. The news came after the Alabama native co-hosted CNN's Republican Town Hall this month alongside former President Donald Trump in New Hampshire. Collins' handling of the event divided critics and viewers, while Variety and Puck reported that CNN planned to give her the primetime slot permanently after she publicly supported her town hall appearance.

Collins, 32, became CNN's youngest-ever chief White House correspondent at age 29. “Since joining CNN in 2017, she has become one of the most influential journalists in the country because of her tough questions, objective reporting and distinctive style,” the CNN press release said. “Kaitlan has broken numerous high-profile stories from the Biden and Trump administrations, including major policy decisions and major personnel changes, and has traveled extensively around the world to cover their presidencies. Collins also covered the special Senate election in her home state of Alabama.”

Collins replaced Jim Acosta as chief White House correspondent in 2021. When she joined the network in 2017, Collins covered the Trump White House and quickly rose to the top of her field. She covered Biden for a year and a half before becoming co-host of “CNN This Morning.”

Collins is a native of Prattville and graduated from the University of Alabama in 2014.