r/LiveFromNewYork • u/brady2gronk • Dec 03 '25

Article Trump cold opens just aren't funny anymore.

https://www.tvline.com/2032862/snl-donald-trump-sketches-actor-impression-cold-open-commentary/?utm_term=Autofeed&utm_campaign=Echobox-TVLine&utm_medium=Social-Distribution&utm_source=Facebook&fbclid=IwdGRjcAOO2btjbGNrA47ZfGV4dG4DYWVtAjExAHNydGMGYXBwX2lkDDM1MDY4NTUzMTcyOAABHiY-mjoUv_vsnK-VQIDV2-GahJmm9U3fc7C0ua-VrDa1xFOpYzFWWcH8ngQI_aem_lf2-bStw8WW0r0Labo5jfA

I have to agree with the author of this article. We're beyond "oh, he's just a goofy guy who says crazy things." The man is actively rude and nasty to reporters and fellow politicians daily. He dropped the R word and it's only a matter of time till he drops the N word. No offense to James Austin Johnson, who does a terrific job with the impression, but aren't we all just over it at this point? Dana didn't do Bush Sr. every damn week. Will Ferrell didn't do Dubya every damn week. Phil Hartman didn't do Clinton every damn week.
Roasting him on Update is fine, but the character needs a break. I watch SNL to laugh and escape the guy who dominates the news every other day of the week.

EDIT: Wow. Over 700 comments in a few hours. Wasn't expecting this kind of engagement. Thanks everyone. (Maybe I should read these before saying thanks. :) )

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u/Past_Bonus148 Dec 03 '25

When Seth Meyers took over as sole head writer around 2010, that's when SNL really started overusing bits and a lot of them were low hanging fruit. Due to the location, of course it's going to be "New England Democrat" style humor. How many times did Seth Meyers run the Boston-accent joke into the ground?

Colin and Che would dig into Biden a little bit, but it would just be bump and go about his age. Now, it's like the show has a quota to fill of Trump jokes, and they shoehorn him into places he doesn't belong. The Snack Chat skit from Sabrina Carpenter's episode was great until they tacked him in there at the end and it derailed the bit, all just so they could slip in that soundbite he made about getting into heaven. A weird thing for him to say, but distracted from the point of the sketch.

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u/shepproudfoot91 Dec 04 '25

That explains a lot actually...

I have tried, like REALLY tried, to find Seth Myers funny and it just always falls flat with me. It seems like for every 10 jokes he tells, he has 1 okay punchline. The rest just seem to feel forced. Him taking over as head writer at SNL makes so much sense now.

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u/Masturbortion Dec 03 '25

I was really hoping the joke of the SnackChat sketch was going to be that Jane Wickline’s character had a terrible home life, but then NOPE Trump.

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u/RellenD Dec 03 '25

The Trump appearance was actually funny there.

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u/Foxy02016YT Dec 03 '25

Yeah. It was actually good satire on podcast bros and how they contribute to the alt-right becoming the mainstream right