SNL Political Parodies

In an election year when politics have divided people more than ever, Saturday Night Live’s election skits bring humor to both candidates and are bound to make you crack a smile regardless of your political stance.

They definitely aren’t unbiased — the SNL cast makes it clear that they don’t support Trump — but the sketches recognize and joke about each party’s faults, whether it’s Trump’s constant interruptions or Biden’s savvy old grandpa demeanor. Here’s my review and a quick recap of some recent skits:

“First Debate Cold Open”

SNL’s “First Debate Cold Open” sketch mocks the shortcomings of both Trump and Biden — played by Alec Baldwin and Jim Carrey, respectively — in the disastrous first presidential debate.

The video parodies the debate to depict what many Americans felt they’d viewed: a broadcasted fight between two children. I couldn’t help but think exaggerating the debate must’ve been difficult for SNL, since the real debate was so cringey and ridiculous that it felt like watching another of the late night talk show’s political sketches.

The skit showed Trump not letting Biden get a word out during his rightful two minutes, making fun of Trump’s constant interruptions. Carrey hilariously exaggerated Biden’s wide smile and stiff expression during the debate — one that made him look straight out of anger management class, as joked about in the sketch.

For me, the highlight of the sketch was Biden pulling out a Harry Styles meditation tape to calm himself down. Obviously this didn’t happen in the actual debate, but it did capture how Biden at times seemed on the verge of exploding at Trump during the real thing. 

SNL also perfected the caricature of Donald Trump with his long list of complaints about everything from Biden’s son to the mayor of Moscow, often before Biden ever gets a chance to open his mouth. 

Neither candidate was able to get a clear, coherent thought out between arguing and insulting each other like a couple of little boys. Joe Biden’s running mate, Kamala Harris, played by SNL veteran Maya Rudolph, even had to step in, making Trump apologize to Biden and saying that what the country really needs is a “WAP” — woman as president. Couldn’t agree more, Kamala.

“Dueling Town Halls Cold Open”

This skit mocks the two October town halls held in replacement of a second presidential debate — one on ABC for Biden and the other on NBC for Trump. Jim Carrey’s impression of Biden as a silly old grandpa was priceless. He entered the stage wearing sunglasses while pointing finger-guns at the crowd, all while dancing and saying things like “this is for the kids on TikTok.”

Carrey portrayed Biden’s town hall as a warm discussion, showing him singing a happy love song with the audience and talking to them while painting in an imitation of Bob Ross. Carrey’s glued-on impersonation of Biden’s face and execution of the candidate as someone’s old grandpa made this sketch a spot on exaggeration of what it felt like watching the real thing. 

Baldwin made his skit an accurate representation of Trump’s town hall, in which he ardently denied any knowledge of white supremacist groups and gave no straightforward answer to questions asked about COVID tests he’d taken. Baldwin showed how Trump made the interview almost impossible by dodging confrontational questions asked by host Savannah Guthrie, played by Kate McKinnon.

Most notably, the sketch even made a joke out of a woman in the audience behind Trump who nodded enthusiastically for the whole debate, exaggerating it hilariously by showing her twerking and even pulling out a blow horn.

SNL compared Trump’s town hall to an aggressive MMA fight, especially in the skit of them battling it out in hand-to-hand combat, with Guthrie even throwing a folding chair at Trump. Guthrie’s assertive follow-up questions and comebacks made the real town hall feel more like a combative debate between Trump and Guthrie than an interview, so the scene wasn’t much of an exaggeration.

“VP Fly Debate Cold Open”

In the “VP Fly Debate Cold Open” sketch, SNL guest actors Maya Rudolph and Beck Bennett portray Kamala Harris and Mike Pence respectively in a hyperbolized version of the Vice Presidential debate. The sketch starts off with Pence doing a quick curtsy as he enters the stage, followed by Senator Harris’ grand entrance as she dances and sprays two cans of Lysol everywhere. 

The skit poked fun at Pence’s avoidance in answering questions, while he ignored the question of the 200,000 American COVID-related deaths under his coronavirus task force and instead talked about the greatness of Utah to stall. In a way, the avoidance holds true to his response in the real debate, where he discussed the vaccine development and even called Biden’s plan “plagiarism” for copying his and Trump’s — but not once did he answer Susan Page’s actual question. 

Rudolph nailed Senator Harris’s response to Pence perfectly — as she said “Mr. Vice President I’m speaking” each time he tried to interrupt her. When she asked the American people how calm they were when they had no toilet paper during quarantine, I laughed even more than I did in the real debate when she questioned Biden in his and Trump’s hiding of the virus’ severity earlier this year.

The best part of this skit had to be when Biden turned into a fly and teleported to the debate to sit on Pence’s head and Senator Harris pulled out a bowl of popcorn to enjoy the show. Rudolph pretty much carried the sketch in her performance of Senator Harris, but all of the SNL actors executed the 12-minute recap perfectly.