SNL Second-Guessing: Show's Political Satire "Bipartisan": Michaels

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

SNL Second-Guessing: Show's Political Satire "Bipartisan": Michaels

SNL Second-Guessing: EP Lorne Michaels believes the show's satire is "bipartisan" and we look back at the first cold open of Season 50.

Published Sat, 26 Oct 2024 21:37:08 -0500
by Ray Flook
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Last updated Sat, 26 Oct 2024 22:20:45 -0500
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Thanks to the first cold open of NBC's Saturday Night Live Season 50 – hosted by Jean Smart (Hacks, Watchmen) and with musical guest Jelly Roll – viewers didn't have to wait long to learn who SNL's political ensemble was going to be between now and November 5th.  Andrew Dismukes portrayed ABC News' David Muir, addressing whether he was biased towards VP Harris or not before cutting to Maya Rudolph's Vice President Kamala Harris. From there, we learned that actor/comedian Jim Gaffigan had been cast as Gov. Tim Walz – giving us a great first impression. But that wasn't all! SNL alum, actor, and comedian Andy Samberg joined the opener as VP Harris' husband, Douglas Emhoff.

From there, Muir cut to Donald Trump – with James Austin Johnson returning with a great new take on Trump and SNL star Bowen Yang as Sen. JD Vance. But before the sketch ended, we had another surprise – with Dana Carvey coming out as President Joseph Biden to share a bit about how he has been feeling. With NBC repeating the season opener tonight, this edition of SNL 50 Second-Guessing looks at how Rudolph was feeling when she first got the call from EP Lorne Michaels about reprising her run as VP Harris. In addition, Michaels responds to those who say that SNL favors one U.S. political party over the other and wears its politics on its sleeve.

In this year's WSJ. Magazine Innovators Issue, the long-running late-night sketch comedy/music series was not only the comedy cover stars but also the focus of an in-depth behind-the-scenes look. Having received a call from Michaels four days after President Biden stepped down from consideration as the Democratic nominee to take on Trump and Vance – paving the way for VP Harris and Gov. Walz – Rudolph shared that, "It felt like a call to duty"  to resume portraying VP Harris. In terms of SNL's political sketches and who it targets, former writer James Downey shared that the show hitting Republicans harder than the Democrats isn't anything new – and not something exclusive to SNL when it comes to late-night. You create your own audience over time by pleasing some people and offending others," he explains. But that's not how Michaels sees it, noting that he has no interest in knowing where his staff's political leanings lie. In terms of who SNL goes after, Michaels believes the show takes a bipartisan approach, adding, "There's stupidity on both sides. Our job is to make fun of it."

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