“Saturday Night Live” is taking a break for the next few weeks — and we’re hoping they’ll also decide to take a break from a certain character they’ve been running into the ground lately.
More than any other recent “SNL” recurring character, James Austin Johnson’s impression of President Donald Trump has been unavoidable on the show as of late, appearing more than a dozen times since Trump was reelected a year ago. He gets started early, too: Johnson’s Trump has appeared in the very first “SNL” sketch, aka the cold open, in four of the six episodes so far this season. (And in one of the two where he didn’t appear in the cold open, he popped up in a later sketch as a podcast guest.) But the joke is getting a little old at this point, so we’re humbly asking “SNL”: Please stop opening every show with a Trump sketch.
The Trump cold opens are repetitive and toothless
We get it: Trump is the leader of the free world, and he does say and do some pretty crazy stuff. Johnson’s impression is admittedly spot-on, too, matching the veering train of thought, random pop culture references, and sudden changes in volume we’ve come to know from Trump. But collectively, the cold opens featuring Trump feel like beating a dead horse, repeatedly hitting the same jokes over and over again and just swapping out the punchlines with that week’s current events. (The weird thing they’ve been doing where Trump interrupts an unrelated scene to brag about his accomplishments is particularly tiresome.) Plus, Weekend Update hits Trump pretty frequently, too, so he takes up even more space each week.
It’s as if “SNL” feels obligated to tackle Trump in some way, since he’s such a dominant presence in all of our lives, so they stick him at the top of each show without thinking. But the way they approach Trump has been kind of toothless, afraid to take any real shots at the President for fear of retribution. As a result, they’ve turned Trump into a harmless caricature: a kooky guy who says silly stuff for our amusement. In our polarized political climate, it’s hard to see who this version of Trump is for: Conservatives are annoyed that Trump is getting (gently) made fun of, and liberals are annoyed that Trump is getting even more airtime while essentially being let off the hook.
They’re predictable, too
The worst part about the way Trump cold opens have dominated “SNL” lately, though: They’re predictable. And we all know that’s the death of comedy. When every episode begins with Johnson’s Trump giving another rambling monologue, it loses any semblance of the power it once had. It just becomes… expected. (He might as well be an honorary cast member at this point.)
Actually, the times that “SNL” has put Trump in a sketch that isn’t a straight cold open monologue — like last season’s “The White Lotus” parody — have been pretty good, or at least a marked improvement. So while the “SNL” writers have some time off before their next episode, we have a request: Find a way to make Johnson’s Trump impression relevant and fresh again… and for the love of God, stop putting him at the top of each episode.
What do you think of the Trump cold opens on “SNL”? Too much? Not enough? Hit the comments to share your thoughts!