Jalen Brunson hosts the season premiere of Saturday Night Live

Opening Sketch and Political Satire

The 52nd season kicked off inside the New York City mayor’s office, with Ramy Youssef reprising his role as Mayor Zohran Mamdani. The fictional mayor receives an unexpected visit from Donald Trump, played by James Austin Johnson, who braved a major El Niño storm to visit his “day one.” Trump complained about his busy week—including banning press pool members, making threats to Iran at the UN, and consulting AI leaders Sam Altman, Elon Musk, and Mark Zuckerberg. Ashley Padilla also appeared as presidential assistant Natalie Harp, whom the source material describes as acting like “the girl from Obsession, but blond.” Trump ultimately secured a stay in New York by offering a $20bn housing project for Queens.

Reflecting on the cold open, the source material notes it was a relatively weak start for a premiere. It points out that Padilla’s portrayal of Harp was a standout highlight that deserved more focus, while suggesting that relying heavily on Youssef—or casting a regular series regular or a higher-wattage guest star—might have better served the prominent national figure.

Jalen Brunson’s Monologue and Athletic Lineup Contrast

As host, Brunson stumbled slightly over his opening lines before joking that the episode would mirror a Knicks Finals game: “The first three quarters of the show are gonna be godawful, but the last sketch is gonna be amazing.” He brought out his hater Stephen A Smith, played by Kenan Thompson, for a brief apology and took questions from four teammates in the audience. Athletic hosts historically feature varying degrees of acting success on the show, pointing to past performances by Peyton Manning—highlighted by his United Way commercial—and LeBron James.

Sketches, Office Drones, and Musical Guests

Brunson starred in several pieces throughout the night, including a workplace segment where an office drone named Darius stalled a post-lunch meeting with a wastebasket basketball game, delivering the night’s biggest early laugh to co-star Sarah Sherman. In another segment, titled High School Musical: The New Generation, Brunson played a transfer student who dominates a basketball tryout and romances the team captain’s girlfriend. Additional sketches included a support group for men traumatized by their partners being brought on stage at an Usher-Chris Brown concert, and a business-class air-massage chair bit featuring Mikey Day.

On the musical side, the new season of Dream Academy was parodied by introducing contestants Duff, played by Jane Wickline, and Margle, played by Grace Reiter. Season one winners Katseye also appeared to introduce their latest music video, providing a showcase for newly promoted main cast member Wickline and brand-new featured player Reiter.

Weekend Update and Political Impressions

Behind the Weekend Update desk, Colin Jost and Michael Che tackled recent global headlines, including Benjamin Netanyahu addressing a largely empty UN chamber following a delegate walkout over the war on Gaza. Che quipped, “I guess wherever Netanyahu shows up, there’s gonna be some relocating.” Che also referenced rapper Macklemore’s plans for a Free Palestine tour after being dropped as Ed Sheeran’s opening act.

Guest appearances on Update featured Wickline playing Anthropic CEO Dario Amodei in heavy prosthetics, awkwardly attempting to reassure viewers that AI won’t destroy humanity. Jeremy Culhane also stepped in as political pundit Tucker Carlson to discuss summer films like The Odyssey, Spider-Man, Obsession, and Minions and Monsters. While Culhane’s impression drew praise for its surface-level accuracy, the source material critiques the writing for presenting Carlson as an old-school Christian neocon rather than acknowledging his current anti-interventionist and ultra-white nationalist stances.

Did You Know?

Did you know that Jalen Brunson is part of a group of professional basketball players and athletes to host Saturday Night Live, following in the footsteps of sports figures like Peyton Manning and LeBron James?

Frequently Asked Questions

Who hosted the season premiere of Saturday Night Live?

New York Knicks point guard Jalen Brunson hosted the season premiere.

Who was the musical guest for the season premiere?

The musical group Katseye performed and introduced their new music video during the episode.

Which political figures and public personalities were parodied in the cold open?

The cold open featured Ramy Youssef as Mayor Zohran Mamdani, James Austin Johnson as Donald Trump, and Ashley Padilla as Natalie Harp.

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