A new poll conducted by The New York Times and Siena College shows voters have a variety of concerns about President Biden just months ahead of the 2024 presidential election. But “Saturday Night Live” has given some of Biden’s supporters — or at least the cast members impersonating them — a chance to address those anxieties and argue that he’s not too old to keep the job.
This week, the opening sketch of “SNL,” hosted by actress Sydney Sweeney and featuring musical guest Kasey Musgraves, parodied CNN's “Inside Politics” with Dana Bash.
Heidi Gardner, who plays Bash, opened the program with Michael Longfellow, who played California Governor Gavin Newsom.
“I understand that people are interested in the president’s age. But what they should be interested in is his record.” Longfellow said. “Look at what Joe Biden has done for America. He has created more jobs than any other president in history. Inflation has fallen. Shamrock Shake is back and Beyoncé is leaving country. Thank you, Joe.”
When Gardner suggested that Biden may lack youthful vigor, Longfellow countered that Biden had just finished meeting with him about the border.
“He had charts, tables, PowerPoints,” Longfellow said. “He had an interactive AR display programmed directly into Apple Vision Pro. The software may be in beta, but he’s in alpha.”
“I’m a little skeptical that this is the guy they call Sleepy Joe,” Gardner said.
“Well, he needs to sleep, Dana.” Longfellow said. “But even when he’s sleeping he keeps doing it. The other day, while he was napping, I swung a baseball at him and he caught it like De Niro in 'Awakening.' He is lightning fast.”
Ego Nwardim, who plays White House press secretary Carine Jean-Pierre, described Biden as “the most vibrant person I know.”
She ticked off some of what she said was Biden's schedule, including a 7 a.m. entrance to a SoulCycle class (“And I'm not talking about taking a class,” she said. “He leads the way”) and an 8:30 a.m. entrance . A speed chess match that he wins in 8:32.
Other guests included Homeland Security Secretary Alejandro Mayorkas, Marcelo Hernández (who said Biden needed to go into “beast mode” after which he “did parkour to the top of the border wall”), and Golden State Warriors power forward Devon Walker. There was. Draymond Green (“That guy can jump so high that I saw him pick up a dollar off the top of the backboard and leave some change behind.”)
Finally, Longfellow tried to get the president on the show via a FaceTime call. He connected with the show's resident Biden impersonator, Mikey Day, who told him, “Wait a minute. Let me turn up the volume. All you have to do is find the button.” After saying that, he immediately hung up the phone.
Sketches I wanted to see this week
This filmed segment, which imagines cast member Bowen Yang to be secretly heterosexual and potentially open to a romantic relationship with Sweeney, is fine so far. It's also fun to watch her throw her heart out with her colleagues or get immersed in an intense round of an online shooting game. Still, we'll always wonder what Day could have made of the throwaway pitch he proposed here, a parody of a musical sketch called “Sydney Sweeney Todd.” Oh, I see. Maybe next week we'll have “Merrily We (Josh) Brolin Along.”
Weekend Update Joke of the Week
On the Weekend Update desk, anchors Colin Jost and Michael Che criticized President Biden and former President Donald Trump's visit to the southern border and Mitch McConnell's announcement that he would step down as Senate Republican leader. .
This is how Yost started.
President Biden visited the southern border on Thursday and was horrified to discover that it is overrun with criminals and rapists. [His screen shows picture of Trump.] That's right, Biden and Trump happened to visit the border on the same day. Sounds like the setting for the strangest romantic comedy ever. [His screen shows a fake poster for a movie with Biden and Trump called “You’ve Got Migrants.”] My favorite part of the visit was when the handsome Trump behind bars finally came face to face with his enemies: immigrants. And I can't believe he gave them a pretty tough message. Take a look. [He played a portion of a video of Trump waving and saying, “They like Trump, can you believe it?”] No, I can't believe it. Immigrants don't like you. They walked thousands of miles to reach this river. And they're probably thinking, 'Is that weird guy in a Trump costume waving us into the country?'
continue :
Here's the news from the Middle East: Mitch McConnell announced that he will step down as Republican leader in the Senate. McConnell has been leader for nearly two decades, but first got involved in politics in 1968 when he lost the violin contest to the devil. Many people are saying he is leaving because of his bad relationship with Donald Trump. But just because you hate someone doesn't mean you can't still have a successful working relationship with that person. [He turned and smiled to an off-camera Jost]
Jost responded:
I felt like it was about me. Mitch McConnell walked out of the theater after seeing “12 Years a Slave” and announced that he would resign in November. He will now be replaced by a frozen embryo holding an assault rifle, the second-ranking Republican in the Senate. Mitch McConnell, seen here after rearranging a blind woman's furniture, gave a moving speech on the Senate floor announcing his retirement. I'm honestly starting to respect Mitch McConnell. Here, a single mother was seen watching as she sold her own blood for diaper money.