Saturday Night Live (TV Program)

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      On ‘S.N.L.,’ Luigi Mangione Is Busting Out All Over

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      As Chris Rock hosts, the man charged in the UnitedHealthcare shooting dominates this week’s riffs on the news.The 50th season of “Saturday Night Live” continues to provide the show with opportunities to revive many of its long-running characters. Last week, it was the Church Lady; this week, it was Nancy Grace, the TV personality and frequently outraged true-crime commentator, who has been frequently impersonated on “S.N.L.” over the years by cast members including Ana Gasteyer and Amy Poehler.On this outing, Grace was played by Sarah Sherman as she commented on the outpouring of online support for Luigi Mangione, who was charged in the fatal shooting of the UnitedHealthcare chief executive Brian Thompson.“What is going on in this country?” Sherman declared. “Y’all, this man is not a sex icon, OK?”She added, “And yet, folks online are posting things like — am I reading this right? — ‘Luigi got that BDE.’ Really? I hope ‘BDE’ stands for Behavior Dat’s Evil.”Sherman went on to interview guests including Kenan Thompson, playing a regular customer at the Pennsylvania McDonald’s where Mangione was arrested.“Well, Nancy, I’ve been eating McDonald’s every day for three years,” Thompson said. “I got Type 10 diabetes. Blue Cross? Bitch, I got blue foot. You know what my health insurance plan is called? Hoping it goes away.”We are having trouble retrieving the article content.Please enable JavaScript in your browser settings.Thank you for your patience while we verify access. If you are in Reader mode please exit and log into your Times account, or subscribe for all of The Times.Thank you for your patience while we verify access.Already a subscriber? Log in.Want all of The Times? Subscribe. More

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      Hunter Biden and Matt Gaetz Are Church Lady’s Guests on ‘S.N.L’

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      Playing his old familiar character, Dana Carvey talks about Jesus, tweaks celebrities for their sins and skewers Satan.A quick primer for the younger readers of this recap: The late 1980s were a creatively fruitful time for “Saturday Night Live” where for some reason every third sketch was a fake talk show. Among the most popular of these recurring bits was a segment called “Church Chat,” in which a piously persnickety host known simply as the Church Lady (played by Dana Carvey) would roast celebrities of the day and accuse pretty much everyone of working in the service of Satan.After a yearslong hiatus, “S.N.L.” brought back “Church Chat” to open this weekend’s broadcast, which was hosted by Paul Mescal and featured the musical guest Shaboozey. Carvey, once again clad in the prim attire of the Church Lady and seated in front of a stained-glass window, said he was back to “ring out the end of 2024, the most satanic year in history.”“Everywhere you look, you’ve got 11-year-olds dressing up like that vixen Sabrina Carpenter,” Carvey proclaimed. “You know who’s the best carpenter? Jesus.”Church Lady then introduced the first “Church Chat” guest, Matt Gaetz (Sarah Sherman), the former representative from Florida, who last month withdrew from consideration as President-elect Donald J. Trump’s attorney general.“Are you OK, Matt?” Carvey asked Sherman. “You look a little surprised to be here.”“No, this is just how my face is,” Sherman answered.We are having trouble retrieving the article content.Please enable JavaScript in your browser settings.Thank you for your patience while we verify access. If you are in Reader mode please exit and log into your Times account, or subscribe for all of The Times.Thank you for your patience while we verify access.Already a subscriber? Log in.Want all of The Times? Subscribe. More

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      On ‘S.N.L.,’ a Peaceful Transition to Trump’s Cabinet of Curiosities

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      Sarah Sherman plays Matt Gaetz as well as the widow of P’Nut, the conservative darling of the rodent world, while Charli XCX and pals serenade a mom-to-be.An amicable White House transition meeting between President Biden and President-elect Donald J. Trump provided the template for the opening sketch of this weekend’s “Saturday Night Live,” and it also gave “S.N.L.” another opportunity to rearrange its musical chairs of who’s playing whom in the Trump administration, with new roles for Sarah Sherman (as Matt Gaetz) and Alec Baldwin (as Robert F. Kennedy Jr.).Dana Carvey, the “S.N.L.” alum who has lately been impersonating Biden on the show, returned to play the part, promising a “respectful conversation” with Trump, played by James Austin Johnson.“Yeah, get a load of me,” Johnson said. “Instead of being rude and crazy like usual, I’m doing quiet and serene. Which, in many ways, is a lot scarier.”After shooing away the reporters who were covering their meeting, Johnson said forlornly to Carvey that he was not looking forward to returning to the White House. “So many of the carpets are stinky and sticky at the same time,” he explained. “Sort of like being at a Regal Cinemas. Now I have to live here for the next four years. Possibly longer.”Carvey responded that he had many wonderful memories of his time there: “Dr. Jill hosting foreign leaders,” he said. “My dog attacking every single one. I brought my party together so much they teamed up and kicked me out. Wait a minute — maybe I hate it here, too.”We are having trouble retrieving the article content.Please enable JavaScript in your browser settings.Thank you for your patience while we verify access. If you are in Reader mode please exit and log into your Times account, or subscribe for all of The Times.Thank you for your patience while we verify access.Already a subscriber? Log in.Want all of The Times? Subscribe. More

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      ‘S.N.L.’ Cast Makes Its Case to Stay off Trump’s Enemies List

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      The show parodied its own history of mawkish self-seriousness in an episode that often avoided the topic of the presidential election.A serious development in current events can sometimes leave “Saturday Night Live” unable to make any satirical comment on it, and that was briefly how it appeared the show might react to the re-election this week of former President Donald J. Trump.This weekend’s broadcast began with seeming solemnity, as a group of “S.N.L.” cast members, including Bowen Yang, Ego Nwodim, Kenan Thompson and Heidi Gardner, took note of Trump’s presidential election victory over Vice President Kamala Harris, who had made a surprise cameo on “S.N.L.” just last week.“To many people,” Nwodim said, “including many people watching this show right now, the results were shocking and even horrifying.”Gardner continued, “Donald Trump, who tried to forcibly overturn the results of the last election, was returned to office by an overwhelming majority.”Thompson said, “This is the same Donald Trump who openly called for vengeance against his political enemies.”Now, said Yang, “thanks to the Supreme Court, there are no guard rails.” Nwodim added that there would be “nothing to protect the people who are brave enough to speak out against him. “We are having trouble retrieving the article content.Please enable JavaScript in your browser settings.Thank you for your patience while we verify access. If you are in Reader mode please exit and log into your Times account, or subscribe for all of The Times.Thank you for your patience while we verify access.Already a subscriber? Log in.Want all of The Times? Subscribe. More

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      Election Night, Plus Five Things to Watch on TV This Week

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      Tune into the major networks’ election coverage, catch up on the teen drama “The Outer Banks” and dive into a bunch of true-crime docuseries.Between streaming and cable, there is a seemingly endless variety of things to watch. Here is a selection of TV shows and specials that are available to watch live or stream this week, Nov. 4-10. Details and times are subject to change.Pick your flavor for election night: comedy? satire? graphics?It is the first Tuesday in November, and it might be hard to think about — or watch — anything other than the election. Luckily, you have a plethora of options.“Saturday Night Live” is airing its annual special of political moments from the past year. We’ve seen Maya Rudolph embody Vice President Kamala Harris, Dana Carvey as President Joe Biden and James Austin Johnson as former President Donald J. Trump. Before what is likely to be an exhausting vote count, why not fit in some laughs? Monday at 10 p.m. on NBC and streaming on Peacock.Election Day will heat up in the evening as the polls close. Every major network will cover the election, but if you want to relive one of the more meme-able moments of the 2020 election, CNN’s John King will be back in front of his Magic Wall, zooming in on U.S. voting districts and telling us more about Maricopa County than we ever thought we needed to know. Tuesday on ABC, NBC, MSNBC, CNN and Fox.“The Daily Show” will go live later at night for an hour with Jon Stewart at the helm. He and his team, including Ronny Chieng, Jordan Klepper, Michael Kosta and Desi Lydic, will give takes on the election and tips for surviving the uncertainty of the coming days. Tuesday at 11 p.m. on Comedy Central.A medium, a celebrity and a professional audio team walk into a Netflix studio …Tyler Henry, left, on his weekly show on Netflix.NetflixWe are having trouble retrieving the article content.Please enable JavaScript in your browser settings.Thank you for your patience while we verify access. If you are in Reader mode please exit and log into your Times account, or subscribe for all of The Times.Thank you for your patience while we verify access.Already a subscriber? Log in.Want all of The Times? Subscribe. More

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      Kamala Harris Visits ‘Saturday Night Liver’

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      The vice president made a brief appearance on “Saturday Night Live” this weekend.Heading into a new “Saturday Night Live” hosted by the frequent guest John Mulaney on the last weekend before the presidential election, viewers were prepared for surprises. And they surely got one: a cameo appearance from Senator Tim Kaine of Virginia.And — oh yes — a visit from Vice President Kamala Harris, the Democratic presidential nominee, who played herself in the show’s opening sketch, alongside Maya Rudolph, who frequently impersonates Harris on “S.N.L.”In the sketch, Rudolph played Harris preparing for a rally in Philadelphia, speaking into a mirror and saying, “I wish I could talk to someone who’s been in my shoes. You know, a Black, South Asian woman running for president. Preferably from the Bay Area.”The real-life Harris appeared as Rudolph’s reflection and gave her some words of inspiration. “I’m just here to remind you: You got this,” Harris said. “Because you can do something your opponent cannot do: You can open doors.”“S.N.L.” has a tradition of featuring presidential candidates on the show, sometimes just days before the conclusion of the presidential election.We are having trouble retrieving the article content.Please enable JavaScript in your browser settings.Thank you for your patience while we verify access. If you are in Reader mode please exit and log into your Times account, or subscribe for all of The Times.Thank you for your patience while we verify access.Already a subscriber? Log in.Want all of The Times? Subscribe. More

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      Dana Carvey’s Biden Stands Out in a Season of Political Impressions on ‘S.N.L.’

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      The answer has to do with going beyond a likeness, something Sebastian Stan and Jeremy Strong understand for their movie about Donald Trump and Roy Cohn.Everyone expected Maya Rudolph to appear as Vice President Kamala Harris in the season premiere of “Saturday Night Live.” It was less obvious who would play Harris’s running mate, Tim Walz. But when Jim Gaffigan walked onstage, face split in an open-mouthed grin like some kind of genial jack-o’-lantern, it was clear no one else should have bothered. Gaffigan’s entire comic persona is based in Walzian Big Dad Energy, even if he portrays himself as more likely to sit in his underwear eating Hot Pockets than climbing on the roof to clean out the gutters. There’s a harmony there, a vibe match.There were other interesting matchups — Andy Samberg as Doug Emhoff, James Austin Johnson and Bowen Yang as Donald J. Trump and JD Vance — but those weren’t the performers who stole that night’s show. The shocker, somehow, was an impersonation of President Biden, a performance so spot-on that for a split second I thought Lorne Michaels had just called the president and asked him to appear.This Biden was Dana Carvey, the former cast member whose work on “S.N.L.” includes perhaps the show’s greatest presidential impression, a strange and brilliant take on George H.W. Bush. Carvey’s Biden squints and chuckles, says “folks” a lot and is given to insisting that he’s “being serious right now,” even when what he’s just said — “I’ve passed more bills than any president in history, but we’ve still got a lot of work to do” — would never be mistaken for a joke. This Biden felt less like an attempt to replicate the president and more like a guess at what he’s feeling these days.Judging from social media discourse — and from this parade of imitations in the season premiere, each cued up for maximum applause and surprise — political impressions have never been more interesting even to those who don’t care about “S.N.L.” There’s no obvious reason for this intrigue, other than the novelty of watching one kind of celebrity play a different kind of celebrity, the same interest that powers a lot of awards-season movies in which great stars try to win awards by playing other famous people. See “The Apprentice,” in which Jeremy Strong and Sebastian Stan portray Roy Cohn and Trump.In fact, the earliest stars of “S.N.L.” are now the subject of their own impersonations, in Jason Reitman’s new “Saturday Night.” Some are more successful than others. But what’s obvious from the better performances (Cory Michael Smith’s version of Chevy Chase, Dylan O’Brien’s Dan Aykroyd) is what’s also clear from Carvey’s impression of Biden: playing real people can’t just consist of perfectly imitating their exterior. And the goal can’t just be to make the audience marvel at a remarkable likeness.We are having trouble retrieving the article content.Please enable JavaScript in your browser settings.Thank you for your patience while we verify access. If you are in Reader mode please exit and log into your Times account, or subscribe for all of The Times.Thank you for your patience while we verify access.Already a subscriber? Log in.Want all of The Times? Subscribe. More

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      ‘Saturday Night Live’ Welcomes Back Alec Baldwin

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      The longtime friend of “S.N.L.” made his first appearance on the show since an involuntary manslaughter case against him was dismissed. Michael Keaton was the host.A contentious interview of Vice President Kamala Harris conducted on Wednesday by Bret Baier, the chief political anchor for Fox News, was an inevitable subject of satire on this week’s “Saturday Night Live.” The opening sketch that parodied this interview also marked the return of Alec Baldwin, a frequent “S.N.L.” guest and host who played former President Donald J. Trump in “S.N.L.” sketches during the 2016 presidential campaign and Trump’s time in office.Baldwin, who played Baier in this segment, was making his first appearance on “S.N.L.” since an involuntary manslaughter case against him was dismissed in July, following a New Mexico judge’s ruling that the state had withheld evidence in the fatal shooting of a cinematographer on a film there.In the sketch, Baldwin was seated opposite Maya Rudolph, in her recurring role as Harris. He introduced himself as Baier, adding, “and to clear the air, yes, I do look like someone made a businessman in Minecraft.”He said it was a pleasure to welcome Rudolph onto Fox News, to which Rudolph replied, “The pleasure is neither of ours.”Baldwin quickly posed a leading question to Rudolph — “Give me the exact number of murderers you let loose in this country,” he said — and he interrupted her each time she attempted to respond. “A million? Two million?” he asked, adding, “Ten million? Give me a number.”Rudolph boasted of her success prosecuting international drug cartels. “If I was in ‘Breaking Bad’ it would have ended in three episodes,” she said.We are having trouble retrieving the article content.Please enable JavaScript in your browser settings.Thank you for your patience while we verify access. If you are in Reader mode please exit and log into your Times account, or subscribe for all of The Times.Thank you for your patience while we verify access.Already a subscriber? Log in.Want all of The Times? Subscribe. More