With the midterm elections just three days away, “Saturday Night Live” returned from a two-week hiatus Saturday with Donald Trump interrupting a Halloween favorite to deliver an unusual campaign message.
Tom Hanks reprised his role as David S. Pumpkins in the Oct. 31 cold open, accompanied by skeleton dancers including former cast member Bobby Moynihan. But the haunted amusement park ride was interrupted by James Austin Johnson’s Trump, who commandeered the sketch to discuss the approaching elections.
“We both appeared in 2016,” Trump’s character said of Pumpkins. “We’re both very loud, very orange, and very, frankly, annoying.”
Johnson’s Trump mocked Republican polling numbers, compared Texas’ political landscape to his discolored hand and reluctantly urged viewers to support Republican Ken Paxton over Democrat James Talarico, or rather “Tala-FREAK-o” in Trump’s universe.
The sketch also revisited Trump’s recent remarks about men’s backsides, with Hanks becoming an unlikely recipient of the president’s fictional admiration.
After a quick Nicki Minaj impersonation of her recent hype of MAGA and love of Trump, a parody of former White House press secretary Katie Zacharia rightfully botched the show’s signature opening line.
Despite Tuesday’s approaching elections, the episode largely limited its political satire to the cold open and a handful of “Weekend Update” jokes. Colin Jost opened the segment with a montage of Trump’s remarks about Ohio Sen. Jon Husted‘s backside, extending the posterior joke.
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Elsewhere, the Halloween broadcast leaned heavily on nostalgia and celebrity appearances.
Moynihan returned as his recurring character “Drunk Uncle” during Weekend Update, joined by Milwaukee Brewers players Christian Yelich and Brice Turang and manager Pat Murphy, who brought the World Series trophy.
In one of the evening’s more pointed moments, host Inde Navarrette took aim at previous host Shane Gillis, whose remarks a few weeks ago describing women at the gym as dressing like “whores” drew widespread criticism. Discussing the fitness demands of her upcoming Marvel role, Navarrette turned his words back on him: “Every morning, I put on my ‘little whore outfit,’ and I hit the gym.” The audience responded with cheers and applause.
Gracie Abrams was the musical guest.
