If you’ve been wondering how much longer “Saturday Night Live” will begin its episodes with sketches interrupted by James Austin Johnson as President Trump, rest assured that at least one newly elected member of Congress has been doing the same.
James Talarico, the senator-elect from Texas who was one of several Democratic candidates to prevail in the midterm elections last week, made a surprise appearance in the opening sketch of this week’s broadcast of “S.N.L.”
Though it took a moment to arrive, Talarico finally got to interrupt Johnson, who himself had interrupted a segment satirizing the congressional leaders Hakeem Jeffries and Chuck Schumer.
The broadcast (hosted by Druski and featuring musical guest the Strokes) began with Kenan Thompson as Jeffries and Sarah Sherman as Schumer toasting their party’s success in the midterms.
Sherman boasted: “I found the candidates. I recruited them. And as a show of respect, they begged me not to appear at their campaign events.”
“And now that we’re in charge, Thompson added, “our first order of business will be to march right up to Donald Trump, looking him dead in the eye, and say, ‘Hey, knock it off, buster.’”
He wondered aloud: “Perhaps it’s time for us to step aside and pass the torch to the next generation.” Both he and Sherman laughed, as Thompson added, “No, never.”
Thompson then prepared to share the secret of the Democrats’ electoral success, but Johnson froze the scene and declared, “Me!”
Johnson said, “That’s right, the Democrats never would have won without this horrible economy and terrible war. So in the words of Moana’s big fat friend, ‘You’re welcome.’”
He lamented that some pundits were declaring the Trump era over, prompting Jeremy Culhane as Vice President JD Vance to interrupt.
“And the era of Vance has just begun,” Culhane announced.
He was quickly shooed off by Johnson, who asked, “Who the hell was that?”
Johnson was also joined by Colin Jost in his recurring role as the defense secretary, Pete Hegseth. Jost vowed that he would remain loyal to the end, adding: “Do I look like a person who gets less crazy when backed into a corner? I live a YOLO lifestyle. You only lose often.”
Jost sought Johnson’s assurance that he wouldn’t allow Jost to be impeached, to which Johnson replied: “Of course not. Unless I do. Which I will.”
Johnson pointed out various Democrats who had won their elections on Tuesday, including Senator Jon Ossoff of Georgia and Senator-elect Abdul El-Sayed of Michigan, as well as the man he called “Talafreako.”
That prompted the entrance of the real-life Talarico, who introduced himself as “the guy who’s been texting you every day, asking for $5.”
Talarico told Johnson: “It’s clear people want something new. They want something different. I’m talking of course about ‘S.N.L.’’s cold opens. How many of these Trump freezers are they going to do?”
Johnson replied, “Infinity.”
The other political sketch of the week
If you thought “S.N.L.” couldn’t find a way to lampoon Sherrod Brown, the Democratic senator-elect from Ohio, well, guess again, pal.
This sketch featured Thompson as the host of a political round-table on BET. He, along with panelists played by Druski and Saidah Belo-Osagie, was certain that Brown is Black. (They call him “Sher-ROD.”) Andrew Dismukes played a hapless panelist who had to explain that, no, Brown is white, and, no, his name is pronounced “SHERR-uhd.”
And if you thought there was no chance they’d work in Jerome H. Powell, the former chair of the Federal Reserve, prepare to be doubly surprised, buddy.
Documentary parody of the week
If you weren’t familiar with Druski (who in his monologue introduced himself as the “first internet content creator social-media influencer only-make-you-laugh-on-your-phone TikTok and YouTube and Instagram star to host this show”), this filmed sketch was a pretty good crash course on him and the hit documentary “You Can See Everything.”
The segment explores what might have happened if, before Nathan Fielder sat down with Elizabeth Holmes, the wide-eyed yet elusive criminal fraudster, Druski had gotten there first.
Ben Marshall might be the quiet M.V.P. of the sketch, playing Holmes’s aggressively protective partner, Billy Evans. But Jane Wickline turns in a solid performance as the spacey, unblinking Holmes — and, as you’ll find out, so does Druski.
Weekend Update jokes of the week
Over at the Weekend Update desk, the anchors Jost and Michael Che continued to riff on the midterm elections.
Jost began:
It was a huge week for the Democrats who overwhelmingly won the midterm elections. Texas turned from red to blue. So did Kansas. Even Mississippi is about to turn blue. So I guess my grandpa was right. This whole damn country’s transitioning. Democrats had a historic night on Tuesday, winning the Senate and winning the largest House popular vote victory since Watergate. And all it took was, like, infinity Watergates. [His screen showed an image of President Trump.] With Democrats in control of Congress, President Trump is now free to spend the remainder of his time in office doing what he does best: bejazzling the White House.
Che continued:
Ninety-three percent of Black women voted blue. Which is amazing. And 52 percent of white women voted blue, which is also a percentage. And as for white men, they’re game. Votes continue to be counted in the Mississippi Senate race, where Democrat Scott Colom leads Republican Cindy Hyde-Smith by roughly 2,500 votes. The count will take a while because people in Mississippi only have but so many fingers. Some pundits are calling this election the end of Trumpism. But I believe Trumpism will always live inside each and every one of us. In the form of long Covid.
Weekend Update guests of the week
Both desk segments on Weekend Update were also election-related: Culhane made his debut as Elon Musk, the occasional trillionaire and former “S.N.L.” host who spent nearly $500 million in an unsuccessful effort to help Republican candidates in the midterms. (Mikey Day, Dana Carvey and Mike Myers have all previously impersonated the tech mogul.) Culhane’s jittery Musk seemed more interested in talking about the “epic vulgar roast” feature of his Grok A.I. assistant, which told him he was “the worst thing South Africa has ever done.”
Later, Dismukes and Ashley Padilla returned as “two people who just hooked up,” exchanging longing glances at each other as they spun as many double entendres as they could from the midterms. As Dismukes explained, “For years, things could be going one way. And then in one night, everything can change.” Get a room, you two — you’re making Jost uncomfortable.
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