Much like game-show parodies, fake commercials and the Weekend Update segment, comedic sendups of presidential politics have become a staple of “Saturday Night Live.”
Look no further than the sketch that opened the 50th anniversary season last weekend, for which “S.N.L.” tapped its celebrated alumni Maya Rudolph to play Vice President Kamala Harris; Andy Samberg to play her husband, Douglas Emhoff; and Dana Carvey to play President Biden. Jim Gaffigan, the standup comic and actor, was also on hand as Tim Walz and — oh yes — the “S.N.L.” cast members James Austin Johnson and Bowen Yang as Donald Trump and JD Vance.
Over nearly half a century, “Saturday Night Live” has had an evolving relationship with the presidency and how to present it on the show. As “S.N.L.” has moved from counterculture to the mainstream, it has been pretty open, as an institution, about which commanders in chief it likes and which ones it doesn’t. Yet in every era of its history, “S.N.L.” has had talented cast members to embody presidents and the people fearless (and foolish) enough to want to seek the White House. (And even then, it still sometimes called on celebrities to play those parts.)
Here’s a look back at 11 of the show’s most memorable political sketches.
1975
‘Christmas at the White House’
Chevy Chase’s impersonation of Gerald Ford on “S.N.L.” was by no means definitive, or even all that accurate; he did not so much affect Ford’s mannerisms or voice as simply put on formal clothes. But it demonstrated the show’s immediate power to insinuate itself into the political discourse. Try to think of a distinct moment from Ford’s time in office: Do you hear him saying, “Our long national nightmare is over”? Or do you see Chase tumbling off a ladder onto a Christmas tree?
1977
‘Ask President Carter’
Dan Aykroyd was great at mining psychodrama from Richard Nixon, who he also played on “S.N.L.,” but in Jimmy Carter he found a true comedic alter ego. Here, with an assist from Bill Murray as Walter Cronkite, Aykroyd portrays the beleaguered 39th president as a calm, collected expert on all sorts of topics, from automated letter sorters to (most notably) bad acid trips. It is a vivid illustration of who “S.N.L.” aligned itself with, in its audience and in its politics.
1986
‘President Reagan, Mastermind’
How does one reconcile the cheerful, grandfatherly public persona of Ronald Reagan with the shadowy multinational operations that were run through his administration? Political scholars have devoted years to the subject, but “S.N.L.” assembled a convincing summary in about six minutes. While several other cast members had impersonated Reagan before — Chase, Joe Piscopo, Harry Shearer, Charles Rocket, Randy Quaid — only Phil Hartman had the range to pull off a Reagan who was simultaneously affable and ice-cold.
1991
‘Campaign ’92: The Race to Avoid Being the Guy Who Loses to Bush’
Sometimes “S.N.L.” has its finger on the zeitgeist, and other times it has been way, way off the mark in ways that are still entertaining. In this sketch, “S.N.L.” greats, including Kevin Nealon (as Bill Bradley), Carvey (as Dick Gephardt) and Hartman (as Mario Cuomo), take turns at sabotaging themselves so that they can avoid the seemingly thankless task of running as the Democratic presidential nominee against George Bush, then the popular incumbent. Hey, nobody ever said comedy was the first draft of history.
1992
‘Bush-Clinton-Perot Debate Cold Opening’
Carvey’s credentials as a master impressionist are well established: Even now, “S.N.L.” is still calling on him to play contemporary political figures like President Biden. Carvey’s place on the “S.N.L.” equivalent of Mount Rushmore was secured more than 30 years ago in this sketch in which he performed his dead-on impersonation of George Bush — one that endeared him to the 41st president — and also played his presidential rival, the businessman and independent candidate Ross Perot. (Kids, remember that split-screen technology and digital trickery were not as sophisticated in the 1990s as they are today.)
1992
‘President Bill Clinton at McDonald’s’
The matchless Hartman once again took center stage, this time as a ravenous Bill Clinton whose jogging path has taken him to his beloved fast-food franchise, and whose interactions with its customers — whether he is complimenting them for running small businesses or explaining the challenges of providing relief to Somalia — always lead to him eating from their meals. Within a few years, when headlines were dominated by news of Clinton’s affair with a White House intern and the corresponding “S.N.L.” sketches took a turn for the crass, this would all look strangely innocent.
2000
‘First Presidential Debate: Al Gore and George W. Bush’
Does this sketch represent the peak of the show’s political influence? One argument in favor: It seems to have convinced President George W. Bush that he came up with the malapropism “strategery,” a word coined for this sketch and spoken in character by Will Ferrell. In a 2017 interview with Jimmy Kimmel, Bush recounted a dinner he had with Lorne Michaels, the “S.N.L.” creator and executive producer. As Bush described it, “He said, ‘No, you didn’t say “strategery.”’ I said, ‘I damn sure said strategery.’ He said, ‘We invented it.’ I said, ‘Well, let me ask you this: Did he come up with misunderestimate?’”
2008
‘Sarah Palin and Hillary Address the Nation’
It only took 33 years, but the women of “S.N.L.” finally got their moment in the arena of political satire — an era epitomized by this sketch starring Amy Poehler as Hillary Clinton and Tina Fey as Sarah Palin. Though Fey had moved on to her sitcom “30 Rock,” her resemblance to Palin made a return to “S.N.L.” inevitable. As Fey recounted in the book “Live From New York,” she was vacationing on Fire Island when Palin was named the Republican nominee for vice president, and she didn’t necessarily see much similarity. “But when we got back to the city,” Fey said, “some cousins and old classmates were all saying, ‘That lady looks like you.’”
2009
‘The Rock Obama: GOP Senators’
Whether “S.N.L.” was too timid or too star-struck, the show never quite landed a satirical glove on Barack Obama in the same way as, say, “Key & Peele,” whose creators were also clearly Obama admirers. Perhaps the closest that “S.N.L.” managed was this series of sketches in which the unflappable Obama (played here by Fred Armisen) transforms into a muscular, rage-fueled monster (Dwayne Johnson) when he gets angry. If you don’t leave the sketch laughing, you might at least say, “I understood that reference.”
2024
‘Trump Courthouse Cold Open’
“S.N.L.” got some hype out of its decision to let Alec Baldwin play Donald Trump for the 2016 presidential election and then, to Baldwin’s chagrin, for Trump’s time in office from 2017 to 2021. But the show made a far cannier and more praiseworthy choice when it hired James Austin Johnson — then a comedian, actor and social-media miscreant with a modest but loyal following — in 2021, in part to play Trump when he seemed to be in political hibernation. In sketches like this one, Johnson has mastered Trump’s discursive stream of consciousness, and he has proved increasingly invaluable to “S.N.L.” as Trump returned to political ascendance.
2024
‘State of the Union Cold Open’
“S.N.L.” takes some fair criticism for giving plum roles to celebrity ringers instead of its own cast members — and then sometimes the show is fully justified in doing so. Case in point: The awkward rebuttal delivered by Senator Katie Britt of Alabama after Biden’s State of the Union address in March set off a wave of speculation about who “S.N.L.” would choose for its inevitable parody. Despite having some excellent in-house candidates, “S.N.L.” gave the role to Scarlett Johansson, the Marvel Cinematic Universe and “Marriage Story” star (and wife of the Weekend Update co-anchor Colin Jost). Grumble all you want, but Johansson stuck the landing, which is more than we can say for her husband’s brief run as a 2024 Olympics correspondent.
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