Saturday Night Live opened its latest episode with a noisy and fast-moving sketch that showed James Austin Johnson as Donald Trump riffing through a long, off-topic monologue after a man fainted inside the Oval Office.
The cold open imagined Trump holding a meeting with pharmaceutical executives to talk about lowering the prices of GLP-1 medications. The scene included Mikey Day as Eli Lilly CEO David Ricks, Andrew Dismukes as Robert F. Kennedy Jr and Marcello Hernandez as Dr Mehmet Oz. Moments into the discussion, a staffer collapsed, prompting RFK Jr to shout “Oh no!” before sprinting away.
Johnson’s Trump immediately turned the medical scare into a stage for jokes. “Oh, hi. Didn’t see you there. Someone was dying in my office. I think I’m playing this very normal. Just stand there and stare like a sociopath. Didn’t even pretend like I was going to help, like when someone drops something and you do the fake bend.”
Trump was slammed for "ignoring" a medical emergency in his office this week after he did not reach out to help a collapsing man behind him.
He then mocked US health secretary RFK Jr’s reaction and his infamous comment on vaccines. “And how about RFK, huh? Booked it out of here like someone was trying to give him a vaccine. ‘Brain worm, take the wheel!’ That thing kind of Ratatouille’d him right out of the room.”
The sketch also poked at the week’s political headlines. Trump complained about Democratic victories in the midterms, including the win of New York Mayor-elect Zohran Mamdani. He said, “I can’t believe they elected Mamdani. We like to say ‘Mamdani!’ You know, I’m torn because I like a winner, but I’m not crazy about a Muslim. Maybe he’ll convert, right? We’ll put him in line behind ‘Ursha’ Vance. And I hope I’m pronouncing that wrong.”
SNL linked the monologue to ongoing issues in Washington. Johnson’s Trump shed a light on rising food prices, suspension of SNAP benefits and continuing government shutdown. “I promised grocery prices would plummet, and they did: they plummeted straight up. And people are now saying, ‘But sir, how will I afford my Thanksgiving turkey for my family? Well, the good news is your family is not coming because all the planes are gone. We call that problem solving problem. Killing two birds with another bird. Now you got a bunch of crazy birds.’”
He added, “That’s kind of our thing. Can’t afford food? Have some cheap Ozempic. Now you’re not hungry and you get to take one weird, painful poop a week.”
The skit ended with fake Trump discussing the shutdown and targeting multiple political wings. “All thanks to the Democrats and some Republicans and all Republicans and me.” He even joked about festive plans. “And while we’re at it, we’re looking into perhaps stealing Christmas. We’ll be doing Grinch. I like the Grinch; he’s a great guy. You know, our wives are friends. We play golf sometimes.”
When the man who fainted was finally helped back to his feet, Johnson’s Trump offered him his “MRI punch card”. “One more, and the next one’s free!”
This was a jibe at Trump getting a sudden MRI scan at 79, which his administration described as a ‘routine check-up’, even though medical experts say an abrupt MRI at that age can be a cause for concern.
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