Saturday Night Live took on the New York City mayoral election in its cold open with some big name stars, including Shane Gillis and host Miles Teller.
The sketch started with Kenan Thompson, as NY1’s Errol Louis – whom he called ‘the least famous person to be impersonated on SNL’ – remarking that there are ‘two viable candidates and one New York “nut.”‘
Then, as the candidates were introducing themselves, Miles Teller as Andrew Cuomo joked that he ‘got us through COVID and then yadda, yadda, ya, squeeze, squeeze, honk honk.’
Shane Gillis, as Curtis Sliwa, then went on a tangent about how he was shot by gangs, whereas Ramy Youssef as Zohran Mamdani just joked that he was trying to give out free stuff.
‘I know some of you out there are scared of the idea of a young socialist Muslim mayor,’ he said. ‘So allow me to put you at ease by smiling after every answer in a way that physically hurts my face.’
He went on to posit himself as the candidate for people who feel bad they are gentrifying their neighborhoods.
‘Once you vote for me, you know you’ll feel a little less bad about that chicken and rice shop getting turned into a Sweetgreen, so why don’t you hit me up on that ballot box girl,’ he said.
Things then took a turn when Devon Walker as Eric Adams came out and praised Cuomo.
‘If you like me, you’re going to love this guy,’ he said, before Teller-as-Cuomo reminded him of their plan – and he instead endorsed Mamdani, butchering his name as he spoke.
Devon Walker as Eric Adams came out to praise Andrew Cuomo, played by Miles Teller
Shane Gillis earned praise for his portrayal as Republican candidate Curtis Sliwa
The sketch ended with James Austin Johnson playing Trump coming out on stage and stating that the election was really about him
The sketch ended with James Austin Johnson playing Trump coming out on stage.
‘This election is about housing and taxes, but we all know it’s about me, right?’ he said, as he vowed to be ‘hands on’ in the city.
‘This guy knows about hands-on right,’ he said, turning to Teller-as-Cuomo.
When he then turned to Mamdani, Trump claimed: ‘He’s too young to lead, he doesn’t have the wobbly walk.’
Many online praised the cold open, with one person calling it ‘one of the best cold opens in a while.’
‘LOL who would have guessed that a fictional debate with the [three] New York mayoral candidates would be funny to non-New Yorkers?’ another added. ‘Well done @nbcsnl. Hilarious cold open.’
‘Can’t get over how perfect that SNL cold open was,’ a third said.
The opening sketch was filled with jokes about Cuomo’s sexual advances
Kenan Thompson starred as NY1’s Errol Louis, whom he called ‘the least famous person to be impersonated on SNL’
Others praised the actors themselves.
‘Love the guy playing Trump, sooo funny!’ one X user wrote, while another said they had ‘no notes’ about the cold open with Ramy Youssef as Zohran.
‘Shane Gillis becoming an SNL favorite (and being very good at it) is sooo weird,’ another added, after he was unceremoniously booted from the sketch program when old jokes resurfaced of him mocking gay people and people of Asian descent.
He was defended by iconic Saturday Night Live alum Norm Macdonald – who himself had been fired from the show for his OJ Simpson jokes – and ultimately made a triumphant return last year to host the program.
The star-studded sketch came just days before the election, as polls showed Mamdani was still ahead in the polls.
The socialist spent Friday at a senior center on the Lower East Side joining in on a dance class before participating in a tai chi lesson
The 34-year-old self-described democratic socialist is set to storm to victory in the election on November 4, the poll by JL Partners for the Daily Mail revealed.
He has a 15-point lead over his nearest rival, former New York state governor Andrew Cuomo.
The poll showed that many New Yorkers who do not support Mamdani are convinced he is going to ‘destroy’ America’s biggest metropolis and crater its economy, sending shockwaves across the rest of the country.
They think it could mark a return to the urban decay of the 1980s when the city was blighted by poverty, rampant crime, crumbling infrastructure and abandoned buildings.
Even among Mamdani’s own supporters more think he will make antisemitism in New York worse, rather than better.
Asked for one word to describe what the Big Apple would be like after four years of his left-wing policies, the most common response from non-Mamdani voters was ‘disaster.’
They also said a Mamdani-run New York would be ‘chaos,’ ‘hell,’ ‘broken,’ and a ‘s***hole.’
