In an episode hosted by Molly Shannon, the former president, as played by James Austin Johnson, compared his recent indictment to the persecution of Jesus.
What started out looking like an almost reverential treatment — at least by “Saturday Night Live” standards — of the Easter holiday quickly gave way to a satirical monologue from former President Donald J. Trump, comparing his own recent indictment on 34 felony charges of falsifying business records to the victimization of Jesus.
This weekend’s “S.N.L.” broadcast, hosted by Molly Shannon and featuring the Jonas Brothers as musical guests, began with a recreation of the Last Supper, performed by its cast and featuring Mikey Day as Jesus.
“Alas, one of you will betray me,” Day told the other cast members playing the Disciples, adding: “Though I have committed no crime, I will be arrested, tried and found guilty.”
Enter James Austin Johnson, in his recurring role as Trump. “Sound familiar?” Johnson said, taking over the scene. “A famous, wonderful man, arrested for no reason at all. If you haven’t put it together, folks, I’m comparing myself to Jesus, again. And what better time than on his birthday, Easter.”
Johnson continued, “As we speak, I am being persecuted on a level the likes of which the world has never seen, even worse than the late, great Jesus.” He pointed to other ways in which he felt he was comparable to Jesus, if not superior: “He rose from the dead on the third day,” Johnson said. “I would have done it faster. Possibly two days. I think we could have done it a lot faster. He had a good mind for business. Water into wine — pure profit. And he had big, big rallies just like me.”
Similarly, Johnson said a lot of his followers got into trouble too: “All because I told them exactly what Jesus would have said, ‘Get very violent and start a war.’”
The holiday, Johnson said, had him excited to hide Easter eggs. “I have many beautiful eggs from my time at the White House,” he said. “And now the Department of Justice is saying: ‘Where are the eggs? We need the eggs back.’ But I hid them. They’re my eggs. They’re my eggs to take, OK?”
As he wrapped up, Johnson struck one more comparison: “Just like Jesus, all I did was be friendly to a sex worker, and now they want to put me in jail,” he said.
Visiting alumna of the week
Returning to host “S.N.L.” for only the second time since she left the program in 2001 (the first time was in 2007), Shannon was in no hurry to revisit the revered sketch characters she portrayed during her time on the show. If you waited until nearly the end of the night, though, you at last got this segment in which her high-kickin’ dancer Sally O’Malley returned to become a choreographer for the Jonas Brothers. (The JoBros eventually shed their breakaway outfits to reveal they were wearing O’Malley-esque red dresses, too.)
Earlier in the night, Shannon’s less heralded stand-up comic character Jeannie Darcy got an ad for her own, low-energy Netflix special. And a video segment from the Please Don’t Destroy team paid tribute to Shannon’s convivial energy by imagining her as the unlikely protagonist of a video game (which Shannon herself tries to play).
Weekend Update jokes of the week
Over at the Weekend Update desk, the anchors Colin Jost and Michael Che continued to riff on Trump’s indictment.
Jost began:
The Wall Street Journal is calling on Russia to release one of their journalists, who was arrested on espionage charges. And I might have the perfect idea for a prisoner swap. [His screen shows a photograph of Trump in court.] Former President Trump was arraigned on Tuesday, and a photographer released this photo of Trump in the courtroom. And I don’t like that he’s flanked by an O.J. amount of lawyers. Because that tells me he’s definitely guilty and that he’s definitely getting away with it.
He continued:
Trump’s lawyer Joe Tacopina, a.k.a. Phony Soprano, said he doesn’t think Trump is going to get a fair trial in Manhattan, and I agree. Even the courtroom sketch artist seems to hate him. I thought Trump looked perfectly nice. He had blended his foundation. Stapled down his hair. But then he drew him like the mud monster from Scooby-Doo.
Che picked up the thread:
After his arraignment, Donald Trump spoke to supporters at Mar-a-Lago and said there was a very dark cloud over our beloved country. Which is also what he used to call Obama. Insiders are saying that since Donald Trump’s indictment, his daughter Ivanka has been absent and his other daughter Tiffany is trying to take her place by his side. Just as soon as she gets through security.
Weekend Update character of the week
Mining the latest developments in the conflict between Gov. Ron DeSantis of Florida and the Walt Disney Company, Bowen Yang appeared at the Weekend Update desk as Jafar, the antagonist from Disney’s animated musical “Aladdin.”
Affecting a very respectable Jonathan Freeman impersonation, Yang said that DeSantis was “an amateur” when it came to villainy: “He has no rizz, no spark, no drip.” Still, Yang said the governor was “plenty evil,” adding, “I mean, banning Rosa Parks in schools? I’m a dark sorcerer and even I was like, Jesus, dude, it’s Rosa Parks.”
But if DeSantis wants to keep gay people out of Disney and its theme parks, Yang said, “That carpet has flown, know what I mean?” Besides, Yang added: “There’s already a Disney World where nothing gay happens. It’s called Six Flags.”
Fake advertisement of the week
You had to hang in there until the end of the episode to catch this, but it was worth staying up for: a fake commercial for a service called CNZen that is partly a news source and partly a meditation app — but one that’s intended for stressed-out people who have made hatred of Trump the basis of their entire personalities.
When needed, the app serves its users salient details about Trump’s indictment and gentle voice-overs from CNN talent (and The New York Times’s Maggie Haberman, played by Shannon). If you find yourself feeling lethargic at any time of day, Sarah Sherman as a whispery, wide-eyed Wolf Blitzer will either lull you to sleep or startle you back to full attention.
Source: Television - nytimes.com
