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Saturday Night Live Introduces James Austin Johnson, SNL's Trump 2.0

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After a three-episode start to Season 47 that saw the long-running sketch comedy/music series get better with each new weekend, we were wondering how SNL would be after a week off. But with host Kieran Culkin (HBO's Succession) and musical guest Ed Sheeran more than holding their own, the return of NBC's Saturday Night Live showed that it hadn't missed a beat. In fact, the episode really nailed its targets right from the start during the cold open (which can be very hit-or-miss) by not only having Pete Davidson hold Green Bay Packers QB Aaron Rodgers' feet, arms, and other body parts to the fire over his self-inflicted COVID controversy but also by introducing the next stage of evolution in SNL's impersonation of ex-reality show host Donald Trump in James Austin Johnson. And folks? He might just be the best Trump they've had on yet (sorry, Alec Baldwin).

saturday night live
Image: Screencap

In the sketch, FOX News' Judge Jeanine Pirro Justice Show! host Jeanine Pirro (Cecily Strong) began by interviewing Rodgers (Davidson) and praising him for being "an American brave enough to stand and up say, 'Screw you, science, I know Joe Rogan!'". From there, Virginia Governor-Elect Glenn Youngkin (Alex Moffat) was invited on to discuss his election win when Johnson's Trump enters the scene and… well… pretty much takes over the sketch. Why, because while others like Baldwin know how to impersonate Trump at a campaign rally or on a debate stage, Johnson knows how to bring us "Trump the Talk Show Guest," nailing his long-rambling rants covering 13+ various topics that have nearly nothing to do with the topic at hand. As you'll see below, this was far from Johnson's first time taking his Trump impersonation out for a spin. We're just glad that he's getting a stage as large as SNL to show it off. Here's a look at the cold open from this weekend's Saturday Night Live. On November 13th, we have Jonathan Majors (Loki, Lovecraft Country) hosting with musical guest Taylor Swift. And looking ahead to the pre-Thanksgiving weekend, November 20th brings Simu Liu (Shang-Chi and the Legend of the Ten Rings, Kim's Convenience) as host with musical guest Saweetie:

And here's a look at a clip Johnson shared from November 2020 showing off his Trump as the ex-reality show host picks a fight with the folks behind Pokemon GO!:

Aidy Bryant, Michael Che, Pete Davidson, Mikey Day, Chloe Fineman, Heidi Gardner, Colin Jost, Kate McKinnon, Alex Moffat, Kyle Mooney, Ego Nwodim, Chris Redd, Cecily Strong, Kenan Thompson, Melissa Villaseñor, and Bowen Yang, along with returning feature players Andrew Dismukes & Punkie Johnson, and new feature players Aristotle Athari (Future Man, All Rise), James Austin Johnson (Silicon Valley) & Sarah Sherman (The Eric Andre Show) make up this season's cast. With NBC's long-running sketch/variety series inching closer to the 50th season mark, it does so as the winner of the 2021 Emmy Award for Variety Sketch Series- its fifth straight win in that category (with the series very close to the triple-digits tally when it comes to the number of Emmys won).

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Ray FlookAbout Ray Flook

Serving as Television Editor since 2018, Ray began five years earlier as a contributing writer/photographer before being brought onto the core BC team in 2017.
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