After weeks of repetitive cold opens that found James Austin Johnson trotting out his President Donald Trump impression behind a lectern, “Saturday Night Live” found a new way to skewer the president: a fake awards show “honoring the best in being or succumbing to Trump.”
Maybe the writers had this week’s Oscar nominations on the brain. After all, best supporting actress nominee Teyana Taylor hosted this weekend’s show. For Johnson-as-Trump, the explanation for the awards ceremony was simple. “After that lady whose name I already forget gave me her Nobel Prize,” Johnson said, “I thought, ‘I need more awards.’”
Johnson spoke about how hosting the Trumps was an honor, noting that he’d like to lead the audience in applause for the nominees, “but my doctors say if I clap, both my dead, purple hands will explode with blood.”
In Jeremy Culhane’s second appearance as Vice President JD Vance, he presented the nominees for the “Best Pictures (of Me)” category, all of which captured Trump in action. The contenders included “Staring into the distance while man has medical emergency next to him,” “Molesting flag,” “Redacted, Epstein files” and the winning photo, “Receiving another fake award that he made FIFA invent to give to himself.”
After a brief speech from Johnson, Marcello Hernández came onstage as Argentine President Javier Milei to present the award for best foreign language film. Hernández spoke in Spanish about what he admires about Trump (the “guy who straight up gave me $20 billion”) and opened the envelope, only to find no winner. “But he did include another check for another $10 billion,” Hernández noted.
For the best kiss category, which was awarded to the person who kissed up to Trump most enthusiastically, Johnson introduced “two legends of horror,” Aunt Gladys from “Weapons” (Sarah Sherman) and Stephen Miller (Andrew Dismukes). The ultimate winner was Kristi L. Noem (Ashley Padilla) who had her award immediately taken away by Johnson.
“Imma let you finish,” Johnson said, referencing Kanye West’s infamous MTV Music Video Awards interruption. “But Trump had one of the best videos of all time.”
The Trump Awards also contained a lifetime achievement award for comedy — in which Mike Myers returned as a flailing Elon Musk — and an In Memoriam segment that honored the end of the East Wing of the White House; NATO; diversity, equity and inclusion; civil rights; checks and balance and Marjorie Taylor Greene.
‘Weekend Update’ pokes fun at vice president
News anchors Colin Jost and Michael Che joked about recent comments by Trump and Vance. “During a news conference celebrating his first year in office, President Trump said that God was very proud of the job he’s doing as president,” Jost said. “Trump added that God was probably looking up at us right now, smiling from horn to hoof.”
Che jumped in, bringing up a recent remark Vance made about demonstrators in Minneapolis. “Vice President JD Vance criticized protesters confronting ICE officers, saying they should instead write an op ed or argue about it on social media,” Che said, before an image of the Jan. 6 Capitol attack flashed on screen. “You know, just like these young scholars did.”
An ad for ‘One Battle After Another’ action figures
Paul Thomas Anderson’s acclaimed Oscar front-runner is no one’s idea of a children’s movie. But SNL imagined what would have happened if “One Battle After Another” had enraptured America’s families instead of “KPop Demon Hunters.” In a fake toy advertisement, Taylor reprised her role as militant leftist Perfidia Beverly Hills, while kids quoted outlandish lines from the film. The ad showcased merch like “One Battle After Another” play sets, including Sensei Sergio’s Apartment (“with real, working trapdoor to help your Latino friends to escape”) and a 50-piece desert road set mirroring the film’s climactic chase sequence.
Geese erupt onstage
It’s possible that the Brooklyn rockers are the buzziest rock band to play SNL in some time. On the Studio 8H stage, the band showed off its versatility, beginning with the aching ballad “Au Pays du Cocaine,” which they kicked into the overdrive at the last minute with an escalating drum fill. Geese rounded out the evening with the volatile “Trinidad,” in which front man Cameron Winter repeatedly howled “there’s a bomb in my car” during the choruses. It’s not the kind of performance you see on NBC every day.
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