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How will the renewed scrutiny of late-night comedy affect “Saturday Night Live,” its approach to political satire and its lampooning of the Trump administration? Judging from the 51st season premiere of “S.N.L.,” the answer so far is: not much.
“S.N.L.” began its new season this weekend in customary fashion, with a sketch that featured the cast member James Austin Johnson in his recurring role as President Trump.
This time, he was interrupting a speech by Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth to warn that he was “keeping my eye on ‘S.N.L.,’ making sure they don’t do anything too mean about me,” and to remind them: “Daddy’s watching.”
Should you need a refresher, a few things happened during the “S.N.L.” offseason: the show parted ways with five of its cast members, including longtime performers like Heidi Gardner and Ego Nwodim, and it hired five new featured players, among them the comedian Kam Patterson and Ben Marshall, a creator and star of its Please Don’t Destroy videos.
Bad Bunny, the season premiere host, was announced as the Super Bowl LX halftime show headliner, drawing the ire of government officials like Kristi Noem, the secretary of homeland security, who said that “ICE enforcement” would attend the Super Bowl and would be “all over” the event.
And — oh yes — the category of late-night TV comedy became unexpectedly volatile: In July, CBS announced that “The Late Show With Stephen Colbert” would go off the air next May, citing economic factors. And Disney pulled the ABC late-night show “Jimmy Kimmel Live!” for a few broadcasts in September, amid controversy over remarks that Kimmel made on the show about the fatal shooting of Charlie Kirk, the right-wing activist.
“S.N.L.” addressed some of these controversies in its opening sketch, in which the Weekend Update co-anchor Colin Jost played Secretary Hegseth, speaking to U.S. military officers at Marine Corps Base Quantico in Northern Virginia. (“Thanks to failed liberal policies, our Army has never been gayer,” Jost said in his speech. “And yet, it’s also never been fatter. Make that make sense.”)
Jost’s lecture was soon overtaken by Johnson, who declared that “S.N.L.” had “better be careful, because I know late-night TV like the back of my hand.” As he said this, Johnson turned over his hand to show what looked like a bruise noticeably disguised by makeup.
“Not looking great right now,” he said, quickly clasping that hand with the other. “Oops! Don’t look at that. Gonna cover this up for the rest of my life.” Johnson also warned that “S.N.L.” would have to be on its “best behavior” or else it would have to answer to his “attack dog,” the F.C.C. chairman, Brendan Carr. (Mikey Day played Carr in a brief appearance, boogieing onto the stage to Rockwell’s “Somebody’s Watching Me.”)
As its 51st season got underway, Johnson said that “S.N.L.” should have “called it at 50, right?”
“It’s so sad to see something get old and confused and yet still demand your constant attention,” he said. “Oh well.”
Opening monologue of the week
Bad Bunny (who was also the musical guest of the “S.N.L.” season finale in May) used his own opening monologue to comment on his recent three-month residency in San Juan and the announcement that he would be performing at the Super Bowl halftime show. “I’m very happy and I think everyone is happy about it,” he said. “Even Fox News.” He then played a montage of Fox News hosts whose words had been edited together to say, “Bad Bunny is my favorite musician, and he should be the next president.”
Speaking to the audience in Spanish at one point, Bad Bunny said in part that his Super Bowl gig was exciting “to all the Latinos and Latinas in the whole world” and marked a milestone that no one could take away or erase.
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James Austin Johnson, returning as President Trump and stealing the spotlight from Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth (Colin Jost), who was lecturing a gathering of generals and admirals.Credit…NBC Universal, via YouTube
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