How ‘Saturday Night Live’ Went from Mocking Politics to Shaping It in the Span of 50 Years
We’re celebrating 50 years of “Saturday Night Live“! All this week, we’re digging into the late-night comedy institution with new stories, including lists, essays, interviews, and more.
There’s an old adage that “context is everything” and while it may not apply to all situations, it certainly rings true when it comes to politics and comedy. Both arenas are designed around performers, sometimes made to look the fool and other times a noble voice of the people, but where one lands always depends on the moment in which a joke or plea is delivered.
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This is a fact “Saturday Night Live” has understood well since its inception, with Chevy Chase debuting his impression of then-President Gerald Ford during the show’s first few weeks on air. Chase would appear a few times as Ford in the month after the show’s premiere, but it was during the Christmas episode the character really took form. Watching today, this bit of Chase adorned in a smoking jacket and clumsily messing up Christmas decorations may endure as a quirky display of physical comedy, but in the moment, it reflected a much bolder attitude.
Up until “Saturday Night Live,” whenever politicians were roasted on national airwaves, they were somewhat required to be in on the joke (see Richard Nixon’s 1968 appearance on “Laugh-In” two months before the election that would make him President). What Chase does instead is skewer Ford as a putz (he was actually pretty clumsy) without so much as doing him the courtesy of trying to bear his resemblance. It’s a two-handed indictment that speaks to both Ford’s stunning ineptitude and the lack of respect warranted by the government at that moment. After all, “SNL”‘s entire creation was in response to the law and order/American values era that came crumbling down with the Watergate scandal and the fall of Saigon. It makes sense that its view of politics at the time was to place thumbs to noses, finger wag, and blow raspberries.
At the same time, “Saturday Night Live” was also putting the message out to Ford and his people: Get in on the joke or remain a laughing stock. In turn, Chase was invited to perform at a White House dinner, a gig that actually became an opportunity for Ford to show he knew how to entertain too. The evening proved a success for the President, with Lorne Michaels later allowing him to utter the famous “Live from New York!…” during an episode hosted by Ford’s press secretary, Ron Nessen, on April 17, 1976. It was the first taste “SNL” would have in being valued as a political tool, commencing a relationship between government and the late-night variety show that persists to this day.
As “Saturday Night Live” continued to experiment with engaging in political conversation, it also took care to reflect the way in which its viewers were receiving information. In its parody “Debate ’76,” while Chase’s Ford and Dan Aykroyd’s Jimmy Carter are the centerpieces of the sketch, the media offering questions to the candidates are also made important players, with Garrett Morris, Jane Curtin, and John Belushi presenting as a diverse array of press reflecting all the issues of the time. With America finally given the chance to take the reins of government back after almost a decade of corrupt action, “SNL” made clear that the choice was between a man who couldn’t pour water into a glass and a Southern charmer just trying not to piss anyone off.
As history tells us, America ultimately went with the charmer. And while Carter’s post-Presidential legacy often receives kinder praise than those of his actions in office, his genteel approach and appreciation for the country’s youth offered a necessary antidote to the bullish egos of previous administrations. “Saturday Night Live” saw this and ran with it, allowing Aykroyd to craft an interpretation of the President as the nation’s living embodiment of a “Dear Abby” column. Unlike Chase, Aykroyd worked hard to retain Carter’s affectations and appearance, while also adding a slyness that implied a deeper calculation.
What’s most enduring about Aykroyd’s Carter is not how the comedian pokes fun at the Georgian’s endearing qualities, but rather how he uses them to smooth talk rather dire situations ranging from rising inflation to the energy crisis of the late ’70s. Though Carter never appeared on “SNL” himself, former cast member Ana Gastayer recently shared on Jenna & Friends how she grew up close to the President’s daughter and once witnessed the Commander-in-Chief breaking out in laughter over Aykroyd’s impersonation. Perhaps this was an indication that as huge a part of the counter-culture as “Saturday Night Live” was, the establishment was always willing to humor its presence if it somehow helped them appeal to the public.
Moving into the ’80s, as much as the country’s imbalance and thirst for exceptionalism were reflected in a notoriously difficult decade for “Saturday Night Live,” the show’s ability to make a statement and capture the political zeitgeist of the time was marred by the quality of talent behind each sketch. In the hands of Charles Rocket and Joe Piscopo, Ronald Reagan was rarely satirized in the biting way “SNL” approached Ford and Carter. The only commentary that actually showed some boldness during Michaels’ absence from the series was Eddie Murphy’s “White Like Me” mockumentary.
While not taking on any particular political structure, the pre-taped bit perfectly attacks the racial prejudice society was still beholden to (and some might say still is) in spite of the 20 years that had passed since the signing of the Civil Rights Act of 1964. As Murphy changes his appearance and voice to come across as a white man, the world suddenly opens up to him, with store clerks offering free newspapers and banks doling out the big bucks with no need for proof of collateral. While the message from the White House may have been that we were living in a welfare state, Murphy found a way to respond that not only spoke to Black frustrations over continued preferential treatment of whites, but also mocked the notion that whites weren’t somehow benefiting from their racial positioning. It’s a shame that the sketch still holds relevance to this day.
Another moment that reminded viewers of “SNL”‘s willingness to buck trends and speak to issues on the fringe was when it brought Reverend Jesse Jackson on to host during his primary run to be the Democratic nominee for President of the United States. Jackson was running on a return to New Deal-style policies, wishing to reverse Reaganomic tax cuts, cut the Department of Defense budget, offer reparations to descendants of Black slaves, create a single-payer health care system, and work to form a Palestinian state. These were incredibly left-of-center stances to take at a time when the far-right was only growing in strength and figures like David Duke were becoming mainstream. In offering Jackson a platform, “Saturday Night Live” also began a tradition of welcoming political figures to both lampoon themselves and engage with voters in a looser setting than the nightly news. This would ultimately prove pretty divisive…but we’ll get to that later.
Once Michaels came back to “SNL” (and once he got past that awkward Season 11), the political discourse on the series did start returning to form, with host Robin Williams initially taking the mantle of President Ronald Reagan at the beginning of Season 12 for a sketch that saw the leader of the free world unable to form a coherent thought without the assistance of an ear piece.
While this was certainly an improvement on previous caricatures, the best of all the takes on Reagan came a few weeks later when Phil Hartman began his tenure as the character. Rather than portray Reagan as a bumbling dunce, Hartman spun this characterization on its head, interpreting the 40th President’s “aw, shucks” cluelessness as a devious cover for his benevolent genius. This wasn’t exactly the reality of the situation, but in treating Reagan as more than just a dummy, “SNL” was finally starting to take a stance in politics again after years of avoiding hot water.
Just as Hartman’s turn as Reagan was starting to gain traction however, another key political player of the time was starting their ascent to the throne and “SNL” would waste no time in deriding their presence. Former Director of Central Intelligence and then Vice President, George H.W. Bush was long considered a lapdog to Reagan, but as the 1988 election approached and the administration faced scandal related to the Iran-Contra affair, Bush was given the chance to stand apart and prove his own strength. For many, this was a terrifying proposition, one brought to vivid realization by Dana Carvey with his first foray in what is now a long career of political impersonations.
As time passed and H.W. Bush’s main opponent became Massachusetts Governor Michael Dukakis (played with a perfect dull ineffectualness by Jon Lovitz), Carvey’s performance continued to outline the Vice President’s relative lack of substance while at the same time acknowledging the show’s position that he was the only electable candidate of the moment. Once in office, the country’s interpretation of H.W. Bush soon became wrapped up in Carvey’s presentation of him, with many valuing the President’s directness despite not fully registering the actions he was taking in office. But soon even “SNL” started to find the Bush-fever somewhat suspect, particularly the attention he received after “winning” the first Gulf War.
In a cold open titled “Joint Session,” Carvey plays Bush amidst his post-war victory lap, taking to Congress where he’s feted with continuous applause from politicians on both sides of the aisle. It’s the kind of sycophancy America had apparently just fought a war to end and yet seems alive and well right here at home. Host Michael J. Fox’s role as Vice President Dan Quayle is a particular standout in that the genuflecting second-in-command can’t help but rise to clap at every juncture possible.
The irony is that as tyrannical a figure as H.W. Bush was portrayed on “SNL,” the writers, cast, and likely Michaels himself still thought he’d be earning a second term come 1992. The show even went as far as writing a sketch featuring all his likely Democratic opponents coming up with reasonings as to why they were the wrong candidate to face H.W. Bush come the general election. This has echoes to how the series would later handle Hillary Clinton and Kamala Harris’ bouts against Donald Trump, but before we get there, there’s another Clinton that first takes precedence.
Oh, Bill. A genius? Sure. Well-read and one of the finest communicators to ever rise to the Presidency? Absolutely. But right from the get-go, “SNL” saw Bill Clinton for what he was underneath all that: Just a regular dude who absolutely, positively couldn’t control himself even if his heart (and marriage) depended on it. This was perhaps best personified in a 1992 sketch that saw Clinton take an extended break from his jog to greet Americans at his local McDonalds. All the while, the President-elect can’t seem to keep from snacking on as much food as he can get his hands on and dispensing as much wisdom as he can to the people before they realize he’s stolen their egg McMuffin.
Leaving “SNL” in 1994, Hartman would eventually pass the role of Clinton onto newcomer Darrell Hammond, who went on to play the 42nd President 84 times between 1995 and 2009. Even Clinton himself was so impressed with Hammond’s portrayal, he was invited to White House events on numerous occasions. From Clinton’s offbeat speech pattern to the specificity of his hand gestures, Hammond treated his impersonation with extreme care, but once the Monica Lewinsky scandal started to take root in the late ’90s, it was hard for the writers to depict him as anything other than a horny buffoon who’d be willing to start a war if it meant protecting his own legacy.
Admittedly, it’s difficult to watch Molly Shannon’s ditzy depiction of Lewinsky today without feeling empathy for the young girl who was taken advantage of by the holder of the highest office in the land, but back then, the idea of this kind of salacious scandal being out in the open made everyone hungry to rip both her and Clinton apart. It was also not the first time “SNL” chose to wade into the waters of sexual impropriety in politics either, having released a sketch in 1991 satirizing Clarence Thomas’ confirmation hearing and the accusations put forth by his former colleague Anita Hill. At least in its retelling of the Lewinsky affair, “SNL” worked to leave no one unscathed, with Michaels going as far as casting John Goodman to portray whistleblower Linda Tripp.
Ultimately, Lewinsky herself would appear on “SNL” in a sketch that saw Hammond’s Clinton dreaming about the potential life he might live with her after he finally gets out of the White House. Still 26 at the time her cameo aired, Lewinsky was probably still too young to fully appreciate the gravity of the situation and even angered some amongst the “SNL” staff by wishing to appear. Still, at a moment when few others were willing to let her reclaim her voice, the series allowed her a chance to be a part of the joke rather than merely the butt of it.
Lewinsky’s willingness to put herself out there in such a risky fashion was likely the work of Michaels pulling the strings and as America moved into a new century, his ability to not only have the show comment on the news of the day, but influence it only grew more apparent. Take for instance a sketch that aired two weeks before the 2000 election. Returning to “SNL” as host, Carvey appeared once again as former President George H.W. Bush, this time to take his eldest son, Republican nominee for President George W. Bush (one of Will Ferrell’s defining “SNL” roles), out for a little hunt and motivational speech. The underlying implication of the piece was that Bush the second was likely to win, a fact that was far from certain, yet “SNL” seemed to treat as a foregone conclusion.
Following a close race that left the country in stasis for a month as votes were recounted, Bush did manage to squeak out a win and the dire situation Carvey’s H.W. could’ve prevented with one single shot seemed to come to fruition with the attack on 9/11. At that point a staple of New York City, “Saturday Night Live” could not pick up after these tragic events without offering some form of condolence and message of strength. Unfortunately, that message had to come from the then-Mayor of New York City, Rudy Giuliani. Thankfully Michaels’ close friend, singer/songwriter Paul Simon, was also present with a rendition of “The Boxer” that helped lift the spirit and resilience of the New York community.
“SNL” never aired during the Vietnam War and the conflicts America entered into in its aftermath never seemed to hold the same weight as this devastating affair. That was until President Bush chose to begin wars in both Iraq and Afghanistan following 9/11. In covering these events, it was difficult for the show not to try to seek humor in the absurdity of the situation, with one 2001 sketch entitled “War Party” seeing cast members break out into celebration over the success of a mission in Kandahar. Eschewing cultural insensitivity also proved a challenge, as evidenced by Ferrell playing Osama Bin Laden accompanied by Horatio Sanz, Jimmy Fallon, and Seth Meyers as Taliban fighters.
Really, the only on-point political humor of this particular moment was Ferrell’s performance as Bush, however, not many realize how few times the comedian actually got to take on the role. Sure, he was active during the election period, taking part in all of the debate sketches opposite Hammond’s Al Gore, but Bush’s actual entry into office coincided with Ferrell’s last season on “SNL,” giving him only a few more opportunities to throw on that grey wig and Texas accent (though he did perform a Broadway show as Bush and revived the character in later seasons of “SNL”). The best of the bunch was a cold open that saw Ferrell’s Bush describing his reasonings behind bombing Iraq, a choice many deemed irrational, but were forced to get behind due to the temperature of the country and Bush’s popularity.
After this, the responsibilities of playing Bush fell to Hammond and later Will Forte, who fit the character more into his own image of a silly little boy in a man’s body rather than re-enact Ferrell’s dazed and confused moron shtick. In both cases though, no matter how hard either performer tapped into the President’s lack of intelligence and immaturity, they still managed to humanize Bush at a time when he was knowingly or unknowingly destroying the country by leading us into forever wars and the worst financial crisis since the Great Depression.
Whether it was the fault of the audience for their growing disconnect regarding satire and media theory or Michaels’ for just trying to keep people laughing as society’s collapse began, Bush was likely the first President to outright benefit from his portrayal on “SNL.” He even admitted that he had no problem with how he was played in a 2017 interview on “Jimmy Kimmel Live.” This is not to say “SNL” was doing anything different from what it was doing in the ’70s when Chase made Ford look like a vacuous magoo, then later brought the real-life man on to introduce an episode hosted by his own press secretary. However, in this initial appeasement, Michaels wasn’t trying to help Ford, he was just proving the reach of the show and cementing its status amongst the political elites.
This instinct to put the influence of the show above any revolution it may incite is one that has sadly mutated over time and there is no better example of this than in the show’s treatment of Donald Trump. The Donald was first played by Hartman in 1988 and later in the ’90s when he was going through his divorce with Ivana Trump (Jan Hooks). In each instance, Hartman and Hooks play the Trumps as apathetic tyrants of capitalistic materialism, using both as stand-ins to ridicule the mindless excess of the period. Then, in 2004 — 20 years after “SNL” gave Jesse Jackson the Studio 8H stage — Donald was brought in to host following the success of his reality competition series “The Apprentice.”
If his monologue was any indication, Trump relished the chance to claim the country’s attention, particularly in a space that had previously treated him with such disdain. The episode itself has gone down as one of the most uncomfortable weeks in “SNL” history with sketches involving Trump sexually assaulting a cross-dressing Giuliani, as well as forcing the cast into chicken outfits. Pretty much all clips from the episode have been scrubbed from the internet, but few can forget what was unleashed on the American people that fateful Saturday night. Some might say its impact lasts to this day, but there was one more Presidency for “SNL” to laugh through before being forced to take on the Clown-in-Chief.
The Obama Years. What a moment, right? For the first time a majority of the politicians in power were of the same age group as Michaels and the original cast of “SNL” and had witnessed the show’s growing influence on actual political discourse, particularly during Bush’s tenure in office. The Democratic Party’s response to this was to essentially anoint themselves as honorary players, with both then-Senators Barack Obama and Hillary Clinton taking to the NBC airwaves in the lead-up to the 2008 primaries.
Obviously, Obama’s appearance seemed to benefit him more than Hillary’s, but her portrayal by Amy Poehler has gone down as a key text in the history of both American comedy and politics. Poehler’s most impactful outing as the character though was in the aftermath of Clinton’s primary loss to Obama. During the general election that saw Obama and Joe Biden face-off against Republicans John McCain and Sarah Palin, “SNL” aired one of its most iconic sketches, one that tops our list of the Greatest Sketches of the 21st Century. Featuring Poehler as Clinton and her returning Weekend Update partner Tina Fey as Palin, the joint address to the nation serves as both a send-up of a political season that upended all expectations and a timeless acknowledgement of how powerful women are demonized, while mindless peons are rewarded.
Moreover, the sketch captures “SNL”‘s awareness in regards to where Republican politics was headed and the kind of players and rhetoric the party would cling to going forward. In Hillary’s frustration over being sidestepped by Obama and potentially a ditz like Palin, we also get a sense for the resentful determination that proved her achilles heel once again during the 2016 election eight years later.
Unlike with Bush, “SNL” found a difficult time making fun of Obama, either a result of the liberal leanings carried by most members of the staff or the fact that the initial cast member to play him, Fred Armisen, wasn’t actually Black and therefore might attract greater controversy should they rip too hard into a President who was. The history of the moment can also not be understated, with Obama not only serving as the first Black president, but also entering the office at a time when the global financial system was on the verge of collapse. Many expected Obama to have more ire for his predecessor and the Republicans who helped Bush create the mess that now needed to be cleaned up.
With the help of host Dwayne “The Rock” Johnson, “SNL” responded to this by crafting a hulked-out version of Obama capable of enacting the kind of violent vengeance many Americans were hoping he’d dole out to the GOP minority. More than a dig at Obama’s tameness, the sketch was a polite suggestion to the President that he might start acting with a little grit. He didn’t always take this advice, but thankfully, Obama’s Republican opponent in 2012, Mitt Romney, was considered even more of a limp noodle, which “SNL” continued to highlight even after his defeat.
When Jay Pharoah — an actual Black actor — took over as Obama, “SNL” continued to mine humor out of Obama’s hands-off, diplomatic nature, particularly when it came to his dealings with Russia and Vladimir Putin. In 2014, amidst the Ukrainian Revolution and Russia’s occupation and annexation of Crimea, Pharoah’s Obama even went as far as enlisting the faux-expertise of actor Liam Neeson — then experiencing a career renaissance for his role in the “Taken” franchise.
As on point as “SNL” was about Obama’s half-in/half-out foreign policy practices, the way in which the Ukraine/Russia conflict eventually escalated into all-out war feels in part owed to the little concern Americans had for the dispute in its early stages. Though “SNL” did place a spotlight on the events, it also mocked Obama’s standing compared with Putin without recognizing the dangers that might pose. Obama may not have always been the tough guy America needed at times, but considering our current President and how they operate, that temperate, even-keeled approach to governance is sorely missed nowadays. (“SNL” would later come to recognize this with its 2017 music video “Come Back Barack”)
As we start to discuss 2015 and what can now be viewed as “The Road to Trump,” it’s important to remember a key fact about who controls “Saturday Night Live.” Lorne Michaels may not be of the billionaire class (his net worth is estimated around $500 million), but he most certainly calls many of them friends and does his best to remind them how good a friend he can be in return. So when he invited Trump to host for a second time ahead of the 2016 primaries, while many understood the move as a favor to someone who runs in the same circles, others were scratching their heads. Especially those on staff who had to cater to such a repugnant individual, a man who had said of Mexican immigrants only months prior in announcing his candidacy, “They’re bringing drugs. They’re bringing crime. They’re rapists. And some, I assume, are good people.”
In an excerpt published in The Daily Beast from an upcoming novel by Susan Morrison entitled Lorne: The Man Who Invented Saturday Night Live, this moment in “SNL” history was one that shook up those directly involved. Tim Robinson, a cast member and writer during Trump’s second hosting gig, was even quoted as saying at the time, “Lorne has lost his f—ing mind and someone needs to shoot him in the back of the head.”
What’s even more perplexing was Michaels’ choice to give Trump an entire episode to bond with American audiences, while only offering the lead Democratic nominees, Bernie Sanders and Hillary Clinton (she’s baaaaack), brief cameos. With Kate McKinnon taking over as Hillary, Clinton’s return to Studio 8H sees her play a bartender named Val who helps her “SNL” counterpart nurse their sorrows over the idea of Carly Fiorina becoming the first female President (a laugh in and of itself). In contrast to the fanfare given to Trump, Clinton’s appearance serves to demean her for her lack of fortitude on certain positions, while reinforcing that she did change her mind in positive directions more often than not.
Rather than offer the part to an existing cast member, Michaels couldn’t help but call on former “SNL” writer Larry David to play Vermont Senator Bernie Sanders, whose grassroots campaign reignited a progressive movement that had long been dormant. It proved to be apt casting, as an episode of Dr. Henry Louis Gates’ “Finding Your Roots” proved Sanders and David were actually distant cousins. They appeared together for one live sketch that features Sanders portraying his immigrant ancestor aboard a ship headed to America. As the ship is going down, David’s character tries to convince others why he should be allowed to enter a lifeboat with the women and children, but it takes Sanders to show him the error of his ways. It’s a brief moment, but one that emphasized Sanders’ leadership abilities and poked fun at his non-traditional appeal.
In the same episode, hosted by David, another Bernie-related sketch aired that offered a somewhat less courteous take on the Democratic nominee. Played as a parody of “Curb Your Enthusiasm,” the sketch sees David portray Sanders in the same fashion he depicts himself in the long-running HBO comedy series. This is to say, it aimed to paint the picture of Sanders as a nebbish who’s brusque demeanor wasn’t befitting of the Presidency, let alone a general election campaign. Obviously, it would be hard for the writing staff to pass up a parallel like this, but the content of the sketch has deeper implications when put next to the messaging of later bits involving Hillary.
Compared to previous eras of “SNL,” at this point in time, the political machine — particularly the Democratic machine — had become so entrenched with the staple variety series that even a gag involving Hillary adopting the policies and appearance of Sanders could be used to convince progressive voters that she was on their side. The parody ad above may have more to do with acknowledging how far to the left Clinton had been pushed, but the undercurrent of the joke is that it’s Clinton’s nomination and Sanders should just get out of the way. This aired after Super Tuesday and while Clinton was in the lead, Sanders had performed comfortably and would not drop out officially until June. This insistence on backing Clinton would eventually lead to one of the most depressing and tone deaf cold opens ever to air on “SNL.”
Yes, Trump won (the first time). “SNL,” as well as many Americans, could barely believe he’d managed to pull it off…though maybe it should have considering the show was willing to give him a full hour and a half on national television in the lead up to the primaries. Also, in bringing Alec Baldwin on to play him — an “SNL” favorite — Michaels had to have known the immediate status elevation he’d be giving the Republican nominee. No matter how hard “SNL” came for Trump, he was ultimately protected by the impersonation thanks to the sheer fact that it was coming from a legend like Baldwin.
While not discussed as much as some Hillary-related sketches, McKinnon’s final appearance as the character in 2016 holds a prophetic detail that one wonders if the actual Trump may have picked up on at some point. In a spoof of the famous scene from “Love, Actually” featuring Keira Knightley receiving a Christmas message via cue cards, Hillary appears at the door of a woman who turns out to be a state elector (Cecily Strong). Using her own cards, Hillary tries to convince her to vote for anyone other than Trump when it came time to cast official ballots, a move that, ironically, Trump would attempt to make when he lost to Biden in 2020.
The unfortunate thing about how “SNL” handled the first Trump administration is that it often felt like the show was laughing with the man who was actively dismantling government protections or otherwise focusing on tabloid matters rather than the real issues of the day. Take for instance a sketch that saw Baldwin’s Trump refusing to respond to questions from the press regarding his supposed “pee-pee tape.” Is it funny? A little bit. Does it accurately depict media’s hunger for the indecent? You bet. But this was a man about to put children in cages based on their ethnicities and who likely colluded with Russia to steal the election, so…maybe don’t make him come across as just a silly, old, perverted kook?
On the other hand, “SNL” did at times try to treat itself as a forum of resistance, constantly taking jabs at Trump and his lackeys, as well as those who worked to put him in office. In fact, out of all the players parodied during Trump’s first term in office — from Melissa McCarthy’s Sean Spicer to McKinnon’s Kellyanne Conway — the best impersonation (and most scathing) came from Beck Bennett as Vladimir Putin.
With this bit featuring Bennett as a shirtless Putin trying to remind Trump to slow his roll and not appear so criminal so quickly, “SNL” does shift itself back into a stance of opposition against the government, though holding this position wouldn’t always prove the easiest task. As many will remember, Trump’s first term was a constant barrage of misdeeds, malfeasance, and mayhem and as much as “SNL” may have wanted to put Trump in his place, just keeping up with his shenanigans meant a steady stream of sketches on each conflict-of-the-week.
In a callback to how “SNL” handled Lewinsky, when details leaked of a past dalliance between Trump and porn star Stormy Daniels that led to her receiving a hush money payment, Michaels raced to get the adult actress onto the show, even getting Ben Stiller involved as Trump’s lawyer Michael Cohen.
The cold open also features Martin Short as Trump’s doctor, as well as Scarlett Johansson and Jimmy Fallon as Ivanka and Jared, and though it captures just how bananas the Oval Office had become, it still arguably underplays the very real threat America was under by having Trump in power. There are tons of sketches just like this one that do the same, including one particularly bleak rendition of Queen’s “Don’t Stop Me Now” sung by Trump, Kanye, Clarence Thomas, and others that hints at the approaching overturning of Roe v. Wade.
In trying to counter the presence “SNL” helped Trump build, the show basically turned appearing in its political sketches into a celebrity cause, with former cast members like Will Ferrell, Maya Rudolph, and Fred Armisen returning for cold opens and stars like Woody Harrelson and Jim Carrey stepping in to perform as Joe Biden. Rather than help matters for the Democrats though, each passing re-enactment of a 2020 debate reminded viewers at home how starved we were for reliable leadership on either side of the aisle.
Despite this, the show still did its best to convey the dire circumstances we faced under Trump and when COVID hit, forcing the series to be made remotely for the first time in its history, it even pulled out the big guns of Brad Pitt to play then-Director of the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases, Dr. Anthony Fauci. Thankfully, Biden didn’t end up needing much help from “SNL” to defeat Trump in 2020, but in covering his subsequent presidency, the comedy series may have also been setting him up to fail come 2024 by calling out his mental decline years before it became a pressing issue.
This was a difficult conflict to ignore and while Michaels is but one man, if he was willing to come for Biden in 2022, what was stopping him from appealing to his friends in the donor class at this time? Surely if he could get Barack Obama and Hillary Clinton on his show then he might be able to get someone in the Democratic party to understand that “SNL” pinpointing a very real fault in Biden was, in actuality, no laughing matter. But instead, as 2024 approached and a rematch between Biden and Trump began to take shape, Michaels and the writers spent more time getting a laugh out of Trump’s antics than reinforcing why he was a continued danger to America. Though it was likely a result of James Austin Johnson’s skills with impersonation, having the comedian play both Biden and Trump at different points probably didn’t help differentiate the two men in the eyes of American viewers either.
And finally, we’ve landed on fall 2024’s scrambled election, haphazardly thrown together and shoved out the door in response to Biden’s troubling debate performance in June that led to him dropping out of the race a month later. As his Vice President, Kamala Harris received Biden’s support immediately, along with the rest of the Democratic party, who had no time to blink let alone seek out alternative options. And though “SNL” seemingly threw all of its weight behind Harris — bringing back Rudolph to play her in the episodes ahead of the election and backing her up with Jim Gaffigan as running mate Tim Walz and Andy Samberg as Second Gentleman and main boo Doug Emhoff — it almost seemed like the show’s political messaging had gotten away from its writers.
Every cold open featuring Harris and her cohort just rehashed each week’s news cycle, with throwaways to Johnson’s Trump and Bowen Yang as J.D. Vance featuring the two often just reciting actual statements made along the campaign trail, as if the lunacy of it all couldn’t be made more ridiculous. Even Dana Carvey adding another Presidential impersonation to his repertoire by rejoining the show as Biden did less to rally Democratic enthusiasm and more to capture the clusterfuck the party had made for itself.
Not even Harris’ own appearance in the episode that preceded the election could help her gain ground, instead acting as a bitter reminder of how little value women (particularly women of color) are given in America and how that is unlikely to change as long as men like Trump are still in power.
So how did “SNL” get here? How does it move forward? Answering the second question first, the show has already hinted at how it will handle the new Trump Administration, with the first sketch following his win acting as a not-so-subtle plea for the President’s mercy. Rather than pull out the grand piano for Rudolph’s Harris so that she might regale the audience with a rendition of some song like “We Didn’t Start the Fire,” the cold open features members of the “SNL” cast speaking directly to Trump, trying to convince him that he’s had the show’s support from day one.
Yes, this was a joke directed at appeasing Trump’s fascist tendencies, but it’s difficult to view this as a funny when many have already been victim to his policies despite him only being back in office for less than a month. And to return to the first question posed in the previous block — how did “SNL” get here? — the answer is by abandoning its rebellious origins so that it might hold a place amongst the ruling class. After all, a man like Lorne Michaels doesn’t grow a late-night comedy show into the American institution its become without opening its doors to unsavory characters whose only interest is placating the public and lining their own pocket.
Though it may have spent years as the benchmark of American satire (a place many still believe it holds), in embracing the political establishment, “Saturday Night Live” has not only lost sight of its own power, but continues to extend it to those who might rather see the show gone for good instead of risking the dissent it might manage to stir up. The fact that “SNL” hasn’t faced more opposition in recent years might just be proof positive of its complicity when it comes to how we’ve arrived at this juncture in history. What’s the proper way to handle politics nowadays then? The best answer this writer can offer is to forgo direct parody for more subversive content similar to Murphy’s “White Like Me” from 1984.
By refusing to acknowledge Trump and his cronies and instead staying focused on the circumstances they create, it takes the attention off the individual and puts it back on the collective, which is exactly what a show like “Saturday Night Live” has been about since the beginning. If Michaels or whoever succeeds him can remember that, then maybe we can finally start laughing at politics again and not dreading it.
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