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With 2024 underway and the presidential race in full swing, it was time for \u201cSaturday Night Live\u201d to get back to doing what it loves best: lampooning former President Donald J. Trump.<\/p>\n
In its first new broadcast of the year, hosted by Jacob Elordi and featuring the musical guest Rene\u00e9 Rapp, \u201cS.N.L.\u201d kicked off with a sketch featuring its resident Trump impressionist, James Austin Johnson. It parodied Trump\u2019s impromptu remarks outside a courtroom in Lower Manhattan where he is again on trial<\/a> facing accusations that he defamed the writer E. Jean Carroll, after an earlier jury verdict in May<\/a> that Trump defamed and sexually abused her.<\/p>\n After a brief introduction by Chloe Fineman, who played Alina Habba, Trump\u2019s lawyer, (\u201cI am new at this, and I am learning,\u201d she said), Johnson entered as Trump and quickly dressed down his own legal representation.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n \u201cYou\u2019re great on TV,\u201d Johnson told Fineman, adding: \u201cMaybe the worst lawyer I\u2019ve ever had, which is quite an accomplishment. Look at this team \u2014 this is the bottom of the barrel, folks, this is who said yes. I\u2019m in the lead for president, and this is the best I can get. Feels like a red flag, no?\u201d<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n Johnson addressed his remaining lawyers and said, \u201cYou\u2019re not getting paid, by the way.\u201d<\/p>\n He promised to abide by a gag order that prevented him from discussing the current defamation trial. \u201cSo I will not be saying that the judge is an idiot,\u201d Johnson said, \u201cor where he lives or what kind of crappy car he drives. I didn\u2019t know they still made Wagoneers.\u201d<\/p>\n Johnson celebrated a first-place finish in the Iowa caucuses by taking potshots at rivals like Ron DeSantis (\u201cRon DeStupid,\u201d he said. \u201cIt just works. We\u2019re going with Ron DeStupid\u201d) and Vivek Ramaswamy (\u201cwho dropped out of the race and has agreed to live in my suit pocket,\u201d he said. \u201cI love my little \u2018Ratatouille.\u2019\u201d)<\/p>\n He went on to contrast himself with President Biden, his likely rival in this year\u2019s election. \u201cHe sniffs little girls\u2019 hair,\u201d Johnson said. \u201cI am different, of course, I do far worse than that. You ever see that video of me dancing with Epstein? Boy, is that some dark energy.\u201d<\/p>\n Johnson predicted he would prevail because of his loyal voters: \u201cWe just need \u2019em to stay alive till November,\u201d he said. \u201cStay alive till November. Just pull that lever and drop dead.\u201d<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n No matter what, Johnson predicted that 2024 would be an exciting year for him. \u201cI\u2019m either going to jail, be president or frankly, the Purge<\/a>,\u201d he said. \u201cPerhaps all three; let\u2019s spin the chamber.\u201d<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n The awards season has already produced several viral video clips of celebrities talking to one another in conversations<\/a> inaudible on camera. So who better to interpret what they\u2019re saying than a pair of professional lip readers, played by Elordi and Bowen Yang? Well, probably anyone else \u2014 the two were genuinely terrible, but hilarious, as they misconstrued a romantic heart-to-heart between Timoth\u00e9e Chalamet and Kylie Jenner and an obvious joke from Jennifer Lawrence<\/a>. Aptly, for a comedy sketch about spoken language and its meaning, no written words can fully do justice to the dopey voice that Elordi adopts when trying to lip-read Travis Kelce, a tight end for the Kansas City Chiefs and Taylor Swift\u2019s boyfriend.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n There\u2019s basically no upside to the episode this month in which an Alaska Airlines flight had a door plug blow out shortly after takeoff<\/a>. But that didn\u2019t stop \u201cS.N.L.\u201d from seeking a positive spin in this fake commercial for Alaska Airlines, which reveals the company\u2019s (fake) new slogan: \u201cYou didn\u2019t die and you got a cool story.\u201d The ersatz ad also points out that Alaska was the carrier in an episode<\/a> in which an off-duty pilot was accused of trying to cut the engines on a flight in October and was charged with more than 80 counts of attempted murder. As a flight attendant, played by Kenan Thompson, says: \u201cNow we\u2019re so proud to say that\u2019s our second-worst flight.\u201d<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n Over at the Weekend Update desk, Colin Jost and Michael Che continued to riff on the 2024 presidential election.<\/p>\n Jost began:<\/p>\n Well, guys, it\u2019s 2024. But is it? [His screen showed photographs of Trump and Biden] I don\u2019t know about you, but when I think of the year 2020, I never think we should run that one back. And if you\u2019re feeling confused, you\u2019re not the only one. At a rally on Thursday, President Biden said he was mixed up when he claimed he had just taken a photo with a woman who wasn\u2019t even there. Then the next day, Donald Trump repeatedly confused Nikki Haley with Nancy Pelosi. Guys, I don\u2019t know if we should do this election. It\u2019s honestly starting to feel like elder abuse. And I don\u2019t even blame them \u2014 I blame us for allowing it. It reminds me of those bum fight videos, where they made two homeless guys fight for money. And now we look back on it and we\u2019re like, how did we as a society let that happen? So I think the best solution is, we should just tell Trump and Biden that they both won. And that we\u2019re very proud of them. And that they can rest now.<\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n Che:<\/p>\n In Monday\u2019s Iowa caucuses, Ron DeSantis beat out Nikki Haley for second place. [His screen showed a photograph of DeSantis smiling awkwardly.] Well, that ought to put a \u2014 whatever this is \u2014 on his face.<\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n Off Friday\u2019s news that Senator Tim Scott of South Carolina had endorsed Trump at a rally in New Hampshire, Devon Walker performed an impersonation of Scott, seeking to justify his endorsement. After poking fun at Scott\u2019s voice (\u201cMy voice is like if Bill Clinton was actually Black,\u201d Walker said. \u201cI sound like the princess and<\/em> the frog. I sound like if Forrest Gump was doing an impression of Ja Rule\u201d). Walker explained that he didn\u2019t see color: \u201cWhen I looked at all the people at Trump\u2019s rally, I did not see a single color,\u201d he said. He also contended that it was not \u201ca racist dog whistle\u201d to ask whether Haley was born in America. Walker then took out what he said was an actual \u201cracist dog whistle\u201d and blew on it, seemingly to no effect \u2014 until Jost, wincing in discomfort, asked, \u201cWhat is that noise?\u201d<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\nCelebrity worship of the week<\/h2>\n
Fly the friendly skies of the week<\/h2>\n
Weekend Update jokes of the week<\/h2>\n
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Weekend Update desk segment of the week<\/h2>\n