Saturday Night Live: Jalen Brunson makes for stiff host in underwhelming season premiere

There are some promising moments from newer cast members, but the show’s return, after a politically tumultuous period, was lacking in bite The 52nd season of Saturday Night Live opens inside the New York City mayor’s office. Mayor Zohran Mamdani (Ramy Youssef, reprising the role

There are some promising moments from newer cast members, but the show’s return, after a politically tumultuous period, was lacking in bite The 52nd season of Saturday Night Live opens inside the New York City mayor’s office. Mayor Zohran Mamdani (Ramy Youssef, reprising the role from last season) gets a surprise visit from Donald Trump (James Austin Johnson). The president, who “for some reason that no one can figure out” loves Mamdani , has braved the big El Niño storm to visit his “day one”.

Trump unloads about his busy week – banning members of the press from the White House pool, delivering apocalyptic threats to Iran at the UN, consulting with AI leaders including Sam Altman, Elon Musk and Mark Zuckerberg (“It made me think, wow, RFK Jr’s probably right about those vaccines, I mean, the ‘tizz in that room …”) – before being interrupted by his assistant Natalie Harp (Ashley Padilla). Acting like “the girl from Obsession, but blond”, the dangerously jealous Harp threatens Mamdani. Trump eventually convinces the mayor to let him stay and hang out in New York in exchange for $20bn for a housing project in Queens.

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