It’s unusual to see “Saturday Night Live” earning praise in these pages, especially in recent years. But some of the cast’s cold open skits during the 2024 election have brought home the laughs (see here and here, if you missed them), and this week’s episode was no exception.
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The focus of SNL’s opening skit was the traditional, White House meet-up between the outgoing president, Joe Biden, and the president-elect, Donald Trump.
Both alum Dana Carvey and regulalr cast member James Austin Johnson, who plays Trump, delivered several funny moments here, including a great swipe at the WH staffers who corrall the press away from Biden, and a solid jab at some in the legacy media’s downtrodden reaction to the election results.
Here’s a short clip, which gives a taste of the gentle ribbing of both Trump’s and Biden’s personalities:
What’s masterful here is Carvey’s Biden originally disagreeing with Johnson’s Trump about hating living in the White House. He insists it’s “been great,” and that he has “a lot of wonderful memories” he’ll cherish. But once he checks off some of the not-so-great moments over the past four years in the Oval Office, “Biden” ends up seconding it.
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However, they do not score as well with two, new characters, whom the Trump character introduces while talking about his Cabinet picks.
Genuine question: Who exactly was yearning to see Alec Baldwin back on the show (instead of Trump, he plays RFK Jr. here)? Not only does his poor cue card-reading skills distract viewers from the lines–but the way he viciously mocks Kennedy’s vocal impairment is disrespectful. It does not help things that what he’s saying also isn’t funny.
I’ll just say this: It’s possible that he was a last-minute addition, since the nomination announcement happened late in the week. Regardless, Baldwin just bombs here, and should give it up on political impersonations. [Note: if you’d prefer not to see Baldwin, his appearance begins at around 5:06 on the video below.]
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They also tried to depict now-former Rep. Matt Gaetz (played by regular cast member Sarah Sherman), but it came across as uneven and needs some work. Most of the alleged jokes here are more meanspirited than the Trump-Biden exchange, which makes humor tough to pull off.
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Since I’ve been following her for a few years, I’m willing to give Sherman some grace and chalk it up to an off-night; she’s been funny on the show in the past. On the whole, though, the cold open players handled most of the jokes the right way.
You can watch the full skit below:
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