Covid-19 is really ruining everything.

Again.

Paul Rudd who was born in Passaic and spent most of his childhood in New Jersey had a great honor and a great disappointment Saturday night. He had been selected for a fifth time to host “SNL,” a pretty elite achievement. Only 21 others are members of the 5 Timers Club (people who hosted at least five times) with the king being Alec Baldwin with 17 under his belt. Others include Tina Fey, Steve Martin, Jonah Hill and Justin Timberlake just to name a few.

Yet when the day came, he had to host in front of an empty studio with no live audience present. All thanks to the ongoing and worsening pandemic. Here’s how the opening went.

Signs of shutdowns and bad news are suddenly all around as the United States was averaging over 126,000 new cases a day on Saturday. The famous Radio City Rockettes have canceled their Christmas show for only the second time in history. Broadway shows are starting to go dark again albeit temporarily as Covid-19 positive results are showing up among companies. “Moulin Rouge” was canceled a few nights ago after audience members had just been seated. Moments before curtain the tests came in.

“Jagged Little Pill,” “Mrs. Doubtfire” and “Hamilton” along with others have closed down for several days each as performers are testing positive for the virus.

U.S. Sen. Cory Booker, D-N.J.,. has tested positive. So has Sen. Elizabeth Warren, D-Mass.

Professional sports are being impacted with postponed games as more athletes are testing positive.

Here in New Jersey Sunday was the fourth day in a row the state experienced more than 6,000 new cases per day. This has never happened before during the pandemic.

Just Friday Gov. Phil Murphy said everything “was on the table” as far as options on new restrictions as the outbreak worsens. What happens next is anyone’s guess, but it sure doesn’t feel like we’re getting what we wanted for Christmas.

Opinions expressed in the post above are those of New Jersey 101.5 talk show host Jeff Deminski only.

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