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.
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The post On the ‘S.N.L.’ Season Premiere, Trump Warns: ‘Daddy’s Watching’ appeared first on New York Times.
