“Saturday Night Live” to Trump: “We were with you the whole time”

The first “Saturday Night Live” since Donald Trump’s election victory began on a sombre note as a group of simply dressed performers, mostly women and minorities, described their new reality.

“For many people, including many who are watching, the results were shocking and even frightening,” Ego Nwodim said matter-of-factly.

“Donald Trump, who violently attempted to overturn the results of the last election, has been returned to office,” said Heidi Gardner.

“And now,” Bowen Yang added, “thanks to the Supreme Court, there are no guardrails.”

Then came the departure from the liberal-oriented show.

“That’s why we at ‘SNL’ want to say to Donald Trump: We’ve been with you all along,” Keenan Thompson said.

Yang chimed in, “We never wavered in our support for you, even when others doubted you.”

“Every single person on that stage believed in you,” Sarah Sherman said.

Marcello Hernández added: “Every single person on this stage voted for you.”

The cast then exuberantly declared their reverence and obedience for the former and future president and introduced a new character: “Hot, Jacked Trump.”

Actor James Austin Johnson, who plays an energetic Trump and who was virtually guaranteed a long-term job by the election, came out as the president-elect in the Adonis body.

“From now on we’re going to do a very flattering portrayal of Trump because, frankly, he’s my hero,” Johnson said, using his Trump voice but speaking as himself. “He will be an incredible president and eventually king.”

Hosted by standup comedian and actor Bill Burr, the episode was the first all season that did not begin with a former cast member Maya Rudolphwhich starred Vice President Kamala Harris in a dizzying five-week run, culminating last week with an appearance by Harris herself that opened the show’s 50th season and fueled a ratings surge.

Burr, who followed stand-up Dave Chappelle hosting the final two episodes after the presidential election, performed his own feint in his monologue by saying, “I don’t watch politics” and some standard stand-up routines including an airplane piece, before turning back to the elephant in the studio, the choice.

“Okay, let’s get to what you all want to talk about. “Okay, ladies, you’re 0-2 against this guy,” he said. “But you learn more from your losses than from your victories. So let’s get to the game tape. Ladies, enough with the pantsuit. Okay, it doesn’t work. Stop having respect for yourself.”

He suggested candidates who were at least a little more scantily clad, saying, “I know a lot of ugly women – I mean feminists – don’t want to hear that message.”

Burr was “so excited that this stupid election is finally over. Four years ago everyone knew who they would vote for. Then they just dragged us around with this stuff for a year and a half,” he said.

After Trump’s first election victory in 2016, the start of the show was serious and remained so Kate McKinnonwho played Hillary Clinton on the show, sat at the piano as the losing contestant and sang a dark version of Leonard Cohen’s “Hallelujah,” changing just one verse from the song’s best-known versions.

“And even though everything has gone wrong, I will stand before the Lord of the song with nothing on my tongue but ‘Hallelujah,'” McKinnon sang in a nationwide moment of catharsis for the losing side.

After he finished, McKinnon said in a shaking voice, “I’m not giving up and neither should you,” before delivering the obligatory “Live from New York, it’s Saturday night!”

Rudolph didn’t appear as Harris this Saturday night, but former cast member Dana Carvey, who has played President Joe Biden all season, appeared as the jumping Elon Musk after the cast said she loved him too.

After the opening, the skits switched to the usual non-election-related “SNL” fare, with the exception of, of course, the fake news “Weekend Update.”

“On Tuesday we learned that Democrats actually don’t know how to rig an election,” said fake co-host Colin Jost.

He later added: “Knowing the Democrats, they will take a long look in the mirror, learn from their mistakes and run Biden again in 2028.”

Co-host Michael Che, a Black man, drank throughout the segment and said he couldn’t believe people convinced him that Harris could win over rural Pennsylvanians.

“Obviously I’ve spent too much time with you white liberals and your silly optimism,” Che said.