Posted in: Current News, NBC, Peacock, TV | Tagged: saturday night live, snl

SNL 51: Trump Covers Mamdani, RFK Jr, SNAP & More in Quick Cold Open

SNL: Trump (James Austin Johnson) discussed NYC Mayor Zohran Mamdani, RFK Jr, SNAP benefits, and more during a quick cold open.

With last weekend's Cold Open spotlighting the NYC Mayoral Race between Andrew Cuomo, Zohran Mamdani, and Curtis Sliwa scoring big with viewers and in the press (more on that below), we couldn't help but wonder if NBC's Saturday Night Live would revisit the topic after Mamdani easily walked away with the win. With Nikki Glaser hosting and Sombr as the musical guest for tonight's show, how did SNL kick things off tonight?

Kicking things off at the White House, we have Marcello Hernandez's Dr. Oz and Andrew Dismukes' RFK, Jr. starting that press conference where a dude collapses, and James Austin Johnson's Trump just kinda of just stood there. This time around, Trump gives us a rundown of how his week has been, not taking responsibility for the Republican election losses this week. He also found himself torn between wanting to like Mamdani because he was a winner and hating him because, well… he's Trump. But he did take a victory lap over the Supreme Court okaying his keeping SNAP benefits from people – yeah, being proud of starving people. "Grocery prices plummeted! They plummeted straight up!" may have been one of the best lines, though I was surprised by how quickly it went by.

SNL NYC Mayoral Race: Zohran Mamdani/Youssef, Curtis Sliwa/Gillis

Last weekend's Saturday Night Live opened with a focus on NY1 and the New York City Mayoral Race, with only days to go before the election. Right off the bat, props to Kenan Thompson for the joke about no one knowing who he was portraying. Andrew Cuomo (Miles Teller), Zohran Mamdani (Ramy Youssef), and Curtis Sliwa (Shane Gillis) – with intro jokes about Cuomo's legal issues, Mamdani smiling about everything (and the other candidates murdering the pronunciation of his name), and Sliwa just rambling. We even got a look at Kam Patterson's Mayor Eric Adams – but no one wanted his endorsement.

While Cuomo and Mamdani are called out for their respective pandering, Gillis excels in portraying Sliwa in what might be his best SNL sketch yet. Of course, Trump (James Austin Johnson) makes an appearance to remind everyone that the NYC election is also a referendum on him – while getting some shots in on all three (especially "handsy" Cuomo). Before donning a "Phantom of the Opera" mask and singing, Trump ponders adding "NYC Mayor" to his resume. It was a return to form for the Cold Open and an auspicious start to the show.

The Season 51 cast includes Michael Che, Mikey Day, Andrew Dismukes, Chloe Fineman, Marcello Hernandez, James Austin Johnson, Colin Jost, Sarah Sherman, Kenan Thompson, and Bowen Yang, along with current featured players Ashley Padilla and Jane Wickline. Joining them are newcomers Ben Marshall, Tommy Brennan, Jeremy Culhane, Kam Patterson, and Veronika Slowikowska.

New writers for this season include actor-writer Jack Bensinger (Rap World), stand-up comedian Jo Sunday (Just for Laughs), comic Maddie Wiener (The Tonight Show Starring Jimmy Fallon), actor and writer Rachel Pegram (Harley Quinn), writer-comedian Claire McFadden (Second City), Maxwell Gay (The Harvard Lampoon), and Tucker Flodman (The Harvard Lampoon).

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