"This order would reduce the number of interracial couples in TV commercials"/"Oh, it's just too many, right?"

"You see them in the kitchen together making meals from HelloFresh. He's wearing loafers, she's got tight braids. You're like: Where'd they meet, you know, what do they even talk about? It's insane."

Most of what is in that sketch has Trump signing orders with respect to things Trump has actually made an issue of his own, but I don't think he's ever seemed antagonistic toward interracial couples. I wonder how that made it into the sketch. And the line "He's wearing loafers, she's got tight braids" prompts us to picture the man as white and the woman is black, but the humor I've been hearing about these ads is that the man is always black and the woman is white. Anyway, the issue of interracial couples in TV commercials is a general topic for comedians these days. It's not connected to Trump, so it's rather scurrilous to throw this subject into the mix.

An "SNL" sketch that surprisingly spoofs the idea that you're not allowed to ask where that baby came from.

The world gave "SNL" some great material and "SNL" did not squander the opportunity. Enjoy the near perfection of "The White POTUS."

Why it's not complete perfection: 1. You need to have watched Season 3 of "The White Lotus" to get most of the jokes, 2. The joke about the watch is bad. It was like the old "moron" jokes of the 1960s — e.g., why did the moron throw his watch across the room?/He wanted to see time fly — and the idea that Eric Trump is a moron isn't worth spending time on. 

"I'm kidding. I'm kidding. Maybe not. Maybe not. Awesome. Awesome, awesome. You've got to make a joke. You know... legalize comedy! Legalize comedy! Come on, legalize it!"

"Don't ask me nothin' about nothin' – I just might tell you the truth."

Sang Timothée Chalamet, on "SNL" last night, where he was the host, in a bunch of skits, and also performed, in his Bob Dylan persona, as the musical guest.

There were 3 songs — "Outlaw Blues" and, surprisingly "Three Angels"...

... and "Tomorrow Is a Long Time"...

What did you think? It's very hard for me to judge... other than that I was delighted that "Three Angels" was chosen and disappointed that the sound wasn't balanced properly in the end of the song and we lost Timmy's voice. But does anyone hear the music they play, does anyone even try?

I'm interested in the fashion interpretation of Bob's famous polka dots. Bob's were a shirt. Timmy's — same size and color — were a hoodie. The shift from shirt to hoodie sheds light on the choice to do "Three Angels." It's a rap song.

ADDED: I haven't been able to force myself to go see Chalamet's movie yet, so I don't know how close these performances last night are to his embodiment of Bob in the movie. In a Reddit discussion, the top comment is: "Actually credit for Timmy for not doing Bob, I much more appreciate a Dylan cover that's not trying to be Bob and that rendition of Three Angels sounded fresh." 

"From now on, there will be two genders... And we're done with LGBT. No more drag. No more guys and wigs. No more whatever these guys were wearing."

"What a weird way to dress, right? A little zesty darling. I'm off to start America. Hand me my wig and my tights and my big blousy shirts."

That was the cold open on "SNL" last night. Nice job, and I appreciate that the players — who had to freeze into a tableau at one point and remain frozen — quite professionally held the pose and resisted cracking up. James Austin Johnson, as Trump, had some funny lines — like the one I quoted above — and the players did not devolve into the old "Not Ready For Prime Time" raggedness — which was great in its day. 

Lin-Manuel Miranda showed up — to play Hamilton — and he froze into the tableau along with all the others and committed to holding the pose. I think it was planned that he — and he alone — would crack up at a specific point — but that point does not arrive until the players have held the pose for 4 whole minutes, with "Trump" cracking jokes the whole time.

Trumpers and anti-Trumpers — did anyone not like that?

Dave Chappelle does the opening monologue on "Saturday Night Live."

Here it is, from last night, all 17 minutes:

"On Friday, the staff often hears Michaels say, 'We have nothing.' He’ll be staring tensely at the index cards on his bulletin board, which lay out each tentative segment."

"Employees a quarter of his age are amazed that, after fifty years, he can still seem scared. If things look particularly bleak, he’ll ask writers if they’ve been saving any good material for an upcoming host, telling them, 'Sometimes you have to burn the furniture.' On Saturday afternoon, in Studio 8H, there’s a run-through of the sketches. The show is often considerably too long at this point, so more sketches might be cut... Sometimes the guest host nixes a sketch. In 2015, Donald Trump was to play a tree standing next to the Giving Tree, the Shel Silverstein character who gives and gives of herself until she’s reduced to a stump. The sketch ended with the Trump tree calling the Giving Tree a sucker. Trump refused to do the piece, not because it portrayed him as heartless but because he worried that the tree costume made him look fat."

From "Lorne Michaels Is the Real Star of 'Saturday Night Live'/He’s ruled with absolute power for five decades, forever adding to his list of oracular pronouncements—about producing TV, making comedy, and living the good life" (The New Yorker).

"Just remember, you’re a living organism on this planet, and you’re very safe."

ADDED: It really happened:

"Here comes Mr. Bob Dylan himself..."

The best part of this is how much James Austin Johnson looks like old Bob Dylan.

It's interesting that a woman plays Chalamet. That might have some verisimilitude, except that it made Chalamet much shorter than Dylan. In real life, Bob is 5'7" and Timothée is 5'10".

ADDED: Uproxx has an interview with James Austin Johnson about his Dylan imitation and links to this 2022 appearance on the Tonight Show where he sang "Jingle Bells" in Dylan voices from difference eras of Dylan:

James Austin Johnson sings “Jingle Bells” as Bob Dylan through the decades. #FallonTonight pic.twitter.com/kuPegi5Dhw

— The Tonight Show (@FallonTonight) November 29, 2022

"Did you just do the weave?"/"It's my own version of the weave, I call it the wander."

"Saturday Night Live" did a good job with the election results.

It goes a little long, but stick with it, because one person is much funnier than everyone else...

... and he's not a current cast member.

They did not repeat the inanity of their response to the 2016 election — the sorrowful "Hallelujah" performance by the Hillary impersonator. And I think they realize that as a comedy show, they are better off having Trump as their raw material rather than the dreary, awful Democratic Party.

The basic comedy idea used in the "SNL" cold open last night is very similar to what the brilliant comedian Tim Dillon used in his new podcast, released earlier in the day: Trump detractors are terrified that now Trump will come after them. 

Pointing my fingers... pointing my fingers... at you....

ADDED: And Trump already replicated the mirror routine — here, with Jimmy Fallon, back in 2016. The Mick Jagger routine happened in 2001. There may be earlier examples of this routine, or similar things, like Harpo and Groucho in "Duck Soup," and, replicating that, Harpo and Lucy on "I Love Lucy."

Who better than Alec Baldwin to play the role of Bret Baier as a complete jerk in last night's "SNL" cold open?

And I liked this "Weekend Update" segment that I think was designed to make the audience hold Trump in contempt... but might make them love him:

I don't like this random worker being embarrassed. She didn't ask to be exploited as scenery.

Just a pro-tip for Kamala campaign staffers...

When you film Bill Clinton going to a McDonalds for a campaign stop... you might want to edit out the part where the cashier thinks he's Joe Biden.

What a complete mess. pic.twitter.com/NEKdBVWjs9

— Tim Young (@TimRunsHisMouth) October 14, 2024

ADDED: "Oh, my God! It's Bill Clinton!"

Another "SNL" cold open with Dana Carvey as Joe Biden...

... and lots of other worthy impersonations... in a "Family Feud" format:

The YouTube transcript generation has humor ideas of its own:

SNL takes on the VP debate... and, yes, we get to see Dana Carvey as Joe Biden again.

And I love Jim Gaffigan as Tim Walz...

"[Jason] Reitman’s first production company was even called Hard C, based on the linguistic comedy theory..."

"... that k sounds make the best punchlines. ('I don’t know if you can print this, but my example was always: "Punched in the dick" is nowhere near as funny as "kicked in the cock."') Saturday Night originated in the same lifelong curiosity. 'Anyone who is a self-described comedy nerd—you’re interested in the weird chemistry of what makes something funny,' he says.... 'We interviewed everyone we could find that was alive from opening night,' Reitman says. 'Every living cast member, every living writer, people from the art department, costumes, hair and makeup, NBC pages, members of Billy Preston’s band—I mean, anyone we could find.'... [Laraine] Newman’s anecdote about guest host George Carlin... objecting to a sketch about Alexander the Great’s high school reunion became a key part of the film, and she’s grateful that Reitman focused on the strange mix of stakes they faced that night. 'We were led to believe that nobody was watching—11:30 p.m. was considered just a dead time,' she says. 'There was no expectation that the show would last. So really, it was like we were doing the show for ourselves....'"

From "Saturday Night First Look: How the SNL Movie Captures 1975’s Wild Opening Night/Director Jason Reitman calls it a 'thriller-comedy' that counts down to the very first 'Live from New York…'" (Vanity Fair).

Here's the trailer that came out today:

Cartoon life.

Easter cold open.

Meade's comment, on watching that with me: "You can tell from the audience's reaction that even though they want to be thought of as hating Trump, underneath they really... love Trump."

5 minutes later:

Me: "From the standpoint of not liking fruit."

Meade: "You forgot the raccoons."