SNL begins 50th season with soft digs at Kamala Harris 2024 campaign… and harder jabs at Donald Trump

Saturday Night Live kicked off its 50th season with a series of dry jokes, only gently poking fun at the 2024 election campaigns of both Kamala Harris and Donald Trump.

The famously Democratic-leaning show has long been soft on the Biden administration, and true to form, has saved its strongest blows for Donald Trump.

The skit hardly needed to do any heavy lifting on its own, as it replayed the former president’s recent comments about Haitian immigrants eating cats and dogs.

Early in the broadcast, Andrew Dismukes as news anchor David Muir joked about the ABC News debate being “biased against the Democrats, which… duh.”

SNL alumni Maya Rudolph rejoined the cast as Kamala Harris, bringing back her “fun aunt” aka the “Funt” persona as the Democratic presidential candidate.

“The Funt has restarted,” Rudolph said. ‘2 nice, 2 furious.’

Harris said she was campaigning in “WisconsinaPennsylvaGeorgia” – referring to the crucial swing states needed for a Democratic victory.

“I’m so happy to be campaigning in whatever swing state I’m in, which I’m just going to call Wisconsin-Pennsylv-Georgia, because I’m going to protect your Va-Georgia,” referring to Harris’ promise to protect women’s rights to an abortion.

“You see, my campaign is like the Sabrina Carpenter song ‘Espresso,’” Harris continued. ‘The lyrics are vague, but the atmosphere is striking.’

She added: “This election is about progress. You see, Donald Trump is stuck in the past, but it’s like telling my husband Doug when he leaves his phone at the Chili’s, “We’re not going back.”

Jim Gaffigan was then introduced as Minnsota Governor Tim Walz, with Gaffigan joking, “In Minnesota we have a saying: ‘Mind your damn business.’

“We also have another saying in Minnesota: ‘My nuts froze on the park bench.’

Walz boasted about his “BDE… big dad energy” before showing off his Costo-branded suit.

‘It’s personal for me. I love this country. And as a former teacher, I need the money,” he said.

“I haven’t been this excited since I got 10 percent off a leaf blower for Menards,” Walz said. ‘May I say, I have that NDE…. Big Dad energy. See what I did there?

‘I see. I didn’t want it, but I got it,” Harris said before bringing her husband out.

“Tim isn’t the only white guy for Harris here today,” she joked.

Harris’ husband, Doug Emhoff, who is Jewish, was played by Andy Samberg, who billed himself as the “Second Gentlemensch” when he joked about decorating the White House for Christmas: “The theme is Hanukkah.”

“I’ve heard what the right says about me just because I don’t regret being a man who supports his wife: ‘Oh, he’s a beta, a ladies’ man, a traditional husband, a little spoon.’

“You know what, if helping Kamala – who we call Mamala in my family – become president means being a little spoon, then you can cut my ass,” Emhoff said.

But the biggest jokes were reserved for James Austin Johnson’s Donald Trump, who claimed at a rally that he noticed people heading for the exit.

“I see you’re trying to leave, but the doors are locked!” Johnson’s Trump said before noting how sad he was that he is no longer running against Biden.

‘What we wouldn’t give if he were standing next to me and old! “We had this in the bag, but then they did a switcheroo and swapped Biden for ‘skubala,’” he complained.

“They say it’s the pot calling the kettle blaming Democrats for inciting the violence, but honestly, I didn’t know the kettle was black until recently. I thought the kettle was Indian. Then it decided to go black,” he said, in another joke about Harris’ ethnicity.

Trump then repeated his claims that immigrants would eat people’s pets.

“They do crazy things with the dogs, and they let the geese watch… They do a Diddy,” he said, referring to the rapper’s recent arrest.

Fellow cast member Bowen Yang appeared on stage as Trump’s Vice President JD Vance, as Trump staffers rolled away the protective bulletproof glass as he emerged.

‘Just this afternoon, him [Trump] told me, JD, that you are like a son to me because I don’t want you and I’m stuck with you. People say I’m a creep, I’m a weirdo, what the hell am I doing here? I’ll tell you what I’m doing here, stirring up this crowd. You guys are great. I want to talk about the platform. It’s called project 2025, and…’

The parody broadcast then returned to the Harris rally with Dana Carvey as President Joe Biden, squinting and wandering aimlessly around the stage before becoming confused when he jumbled his words and started talking in circles.

‘Many people forget that I am president. Even me!’ said Carvey’s Biden.

Rudolph’s Harris thanked “J Biden” for “putting the country first and handing over the reins.”

‘I didn’t want to! They made me,” Biden said, apparently blurting out the truth.

‘I think I did quite well. I have passed more bills than any president in history. Folks, we still have work to do, no joke. I’m serious now. Come on. Guess what, and by the way. The fact is that,” Biden said as he became increasingly confused by mixing up his words.

Harris interrupted: “We can end the drama-la and the trauma-la and go relax in our pajamas,” she said before Biden interrupted her again for getting too close to her.