With 2024 underway and the presidential election in full swing, it's time for “Saturday Night Live” to get back to doing what it loves: former President Donald J. He lit up Trump.
In its first new telecast of the year, hosted by Jacob Elordi and featuring musical guest Renee Robb, “SNL” opened with a sketch featuring its resident Trump impressionist, James Austin Johnson. It parodied Trump's impromptu comments outside a courtroom in Lower Manhattan, where he was joined by author E. Jean Carroll faces defamation charges again after a jury in May found Trump defamed and sexually abused her.
After a brief introduction by Chloe Fineman, who played Trump's lawyer Alina Hubba (“I'm new at this, I'm learning,” she said), Johnson stepped in as Trump and quickly embellished her own legal representation.
“You're the best on television,” Johnson told Feinman: “Maybe the worst lawyer I've ever had, which is quite an accomplishment. Look at this team — this is the bottom of the barrel, folks, and this is the one who said yes. I'm the frontrunner for president, and this is the best I can get. A Sounds like a red flag, doesn't it?”
“You're not getting paid,” Johnson said to his remaining attorneys.
He vowed to abide by a gag order barring him from discussing the ongoing defamation trial. “So I wouldn't say the judge is an idiot,” Johnson said, “I don't know where he lives or what kind of bad car he drives. They still make Wagoneers.
Johnson took potshots at challengers like Ron DeSantis (“Ron Destupid,” he said. “It's working. We're going with Ron Destupid”) and Vivek Ramasamy (“the quitter”) and won first place in the Iowa caucuses. I agreed to live in my suit pocket as a member of the tribe,” he said.
He contrasted himself with President Biden, his likely rival in this year's election. “He sniffs girls' hair,” Johnson said. “I'm different, sure, I do worse than that. Did you ever see that video of me dancing with Epstein? Boy, that's some dark energy.
Johnson predicted he would be won over by his loyal voters: “They should be alive until November,” he said. “Stay alive until November. Pull that lever and drop it.
Regardless, Johnson predicts that 2024 will be an exciting year for him. “I'll go to jail, be president, or frankly, Purification,” he said. “Maybe all three; let's spin the room.
Popular worship of the week
Awards season has already produced several viral video clips Celebrities speak in conversations with each other Can't hear on camera. Who better to explain what they're saying than a pair of professional lip readers played by Elordi and Bowen Yang? Well, probably someone else — both of whom are truly terrible, but also hilarious, because they mistake a heart-to-heart between Timothée Chalamet and Kylie Jenner. An obvious joke from Jennifer Lawrence. No amount of written words can fully do justice to the dopey voice Elordi adopts when trying to lip-read tight end Travis Kelce of the Kansas City Chiefs and Taylor Swift's lover.
Fly the friendly skies of the week
This month there was no change in the episode in which a door plug exploded shortly after takeoff on an Alaska Airlines flight. But that didn't stop “SNL” from looking for a positive spin on this mock ad for Alaska Airlines, which touts the company's (fake) new slogan: “You're not dead, you've got a great story.” The ersatz ad points to the Alaska carrier in an episode accused of trying to cut the engines on a plane in October and accused of more than 80 attempted murders. A flight attendant played by Kenan Thompson says, “We're proud to say this is our second worst flight ever.”
Weekend Update Jokes of the Week
At the Weekend Update desk, Colin Jost and Michael Che continued to clash over the 2024 presidential race.
The Joust Begins:
Guys, it's 2024. But is it? [His screen showed photographs of Trump and Biden] I don't know about you, but when I think about 2020, I never think about replaying it. If you're feeling confused, you're not alone. At a rally on Thursday, President Biden said he was upset when he said he took a photo with a woman who wasn't there. The next day, Donald Trump repeatedly confused Nikki Haley with Nancy Pelosi. Guys, I don't know if we should do this election. It's honestly starting to feel like elder abuse. I don't blame them – I blame us for allowing it. It reminds me of those bum fight videos where two homeless men fight for money. Now that we look back on it, how did we as a society allow that? So I think the best solution is, we have to say that both Trump and Biden won. And we are very proud of them. And they can rest now.
That:
In Monday's Iowa caucuses, Ron DeSantis finished second to Nikki Haley. [His screen showed a photograph of DeSantis smiling awkwardly.] Well, that's a – whatever it is – to put on his face.
Weekend update desk section of the week
After news broke Friday that Senator Tim Scott of South Carolina had endorsed Trump at a rally in New Hampshire, Devon Walker impersonated Scott, trying to justify his endorsement. After mocking Scott's voice (“My voice actually sounds like Bill Clinton if he was black,” Walker said. “I sound like a princess. And the frog (looks like Forrest Gump doing an impression of Ja Rule”). Walker explained that she didn't see color: “When I looked at everyone at Trump's rally, I didn't see a single color,” she said. He also argued that asking if Haley was born in the US was not a “racist dog whistle”. Walker pulled out what he said was a real “racist dog whistle” and blew on it, to no effect — Jost, wincing in discomfort, asked, “What's that noise?”
