SNL Goes Out With a Whimper as Season Finale’s Trump Sketch Totally Underwhelms
SNL is now on hiatus for the summer after wrapping up its 50th season on Saturday. And judging by the cold open, the show’s writers could use the break.
The sketch took on President Donald Trump’s meeting with Saudi Arabian Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman. Repeating a premise that has been deployed numerous times this season to varying success, James Austin Johnson, who portrays the president, mostly delivered a warmed over Trump monologue while minimally playing off just a single character — in this case bin Salman (Emil Wakim).
The rambling five-and-a-half minute monologue delivered few surprises — such as a completely expected jab at the president over the $400 million dollar plane the U.S. accepted from Qatar’s royal family.
“I didn’t make this trip for myself, I want to make that clear,” Trump said. “I did this for the American people, and, in many ways, myself, my personal enrichment. I did that, too. I did very well on this trip. Got a lot of cool stuff!
“The Qataris gave me a $400 million plane. Can you believe that? And people said that was some sort of bribe. Not true. Not true. Because they haven’t asked for anything in return.
“Well, not yet,” bin Salman warned.
“Alright, so it’s a pre-bribe,” Trump replied — in a line that drew almost no laughs from the audience.
From the Qatari plane controversy, Trump predictably segued into domestic air travel — where he got off a few wisecracks about the ongoing chaos at Newark Airport.
“Now people are saying I should really be flying in an American plane,” Trump said. “Uh, no, thanks, honey. Have you seen what’s going on with our planes? The radar is down, and the screen is blank. Newark! ‘Darling, where are we going? Where are we flying for our vacation?’ ‘Honey, directly into the ground.'”
Once again, the audience reaction was minimal.
And so, in a clear tip off that the writers were out of ideas, James Austin Johnson broke the fourth wall and ventured out into the crowd in search of the laughs he wasn’t getting from the stage. He proceeded to make a snide crack about the attractiveness of the audience members in his immediate vicinity.
“Hello, look at her! Wow!” Trump said, commenting on one particular person in the crowd and talking about how more attractive audience members generally get better seats at SNL. “Sevens or more, sit on the floor. Six and below, to the bleachers you go.”
Austin Johnson then noted that this was the last the audience would be seeing of his version of Trump for a few months.
“Since it’s a finale, that means, after tonight, you won’t be seeing me here for a while,” Trump said. “Well, not the fake, fun version of me that makes you smile. The real one will still be omnipresent. You can’t escape me, right? I’m everywhere!”
And that seems to be SNL’s problem. The show cannot escape Trump. It has a very talented performer in Austin Johnson, but there are only so many places he and the writers can take the Trump character.
And so, you’d think that maybe the solution is less Trump. But the problem is, the SNL’s audience expects — even demands — that the show take on the president just about every week. And that’s the box SNL finds itself in. There’s pressure to keep cranking out the Trump sketches — and even opening with them — to satisfy a left-leaning segment of the audience that wants to see the president get his just dessert, and a right-leaning segment that loves to hate the show.
And so even though less Trump might be more for SNL, Austin Johnson signaled that not much will change when the show returns.
“See you again in the fall,” he promised.
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This is an opinion piece. The views expressed in this article are those of just the author.
