SNL returns with a new-and-improved Joe Biden
New featured player James Austin Johnson makes an auspicious debut in the Season 47 premiere
TV News Joe Biden
The political cold open has been Saturday Night Live’s glaringly prominent weak spot for years now, Alec Baldwin’s hammy, superficially written Donald Trump giving way to Jim Carrey’s hammy, superficially written Joe Biden. (With a brief stopover for Alex Moffat to take a crack at our 46th president for a few episodes.) So viewers might be forgiven a little trepidation when the show’s (mind-boggling) 47th season began with the familiar presidential seal, as they wondered which celebrity pal of Lorne Michaels was going to get the call this time out.
As it happens, this cold open was a pleasant surprise, with new featured player James Austin Johnson shuffled out in SNL’s reliably elaborate prosthetics to debut a brand new Biden. And he pretty much killed it. Johnson (who rose to fame on the back of an especially good Trump impression) found the sweet spot between slavish imitation and necessary exaggeration, his Biden—here trying to broker peace with those Democrats holding up Biden’s defining spending bill—quickly winning over an in-studio audience at first clearly uncertain who they were looking at.
With Aidy Bryant (Joe Manchin), a stellar Cecily Strong (Krysten Sinema), Ego Nwodim (Ilhan Omar), and Melissa Villaseñor (AOC) all chiming in with their ideas for either obstructing (in the former two cases) or improving (the latter) Biden’s Build Back Better agenda, Johnson’s president displayed an uncanny resemblance in both body language and cadence, to the actual Biden. For new hire Johnson, it would appear that the traditional SNL gauntlet of scrap roles and sweating out airtime has been waved off, as a featured player taking on a sitting president (and, again, killing it) hints at a much more comfortable first year than is standard over there.
With Johnson’s Biden characteristically both effusive and halting in his oratory, the sketch called out lone Democratic holdout conservative senators Sinema (D-AZ) and Manchin (D-WV) for gumming up the works on behalf, it’s implied, of their wealthy benefactors. Meanwhile Johnson’s Biden, in the real Biden’s hushed, slightly rushed verbal style, found that the two sides are too far apart even for his folksy entreaties for necessary infrastructure and other public needs. “C’mon, don’t take trains away from me!,” pleaded noted railway enthusiast Biden, having discovered that such other helpful and life-improving things as clean water, bridges that don’t fall down, and paid family leave are just too expensive for Manchin, Sinema, and whatever lobbyists are holding their leashes. Or perhaps, as Strong’s Sinema states when asked about her opposition to roads as a concept, her only motivation in standing in the way of the Democrats (who hold the House, Senate, and Presidency) getting anything done is simply “Chaos.” It would explain some things.
43 Comments
Aren’t there any regular AV Clubbers up at 6 AM CDT who can comment on this post? I’m guessing the rest of you “with lives” actually sleep in on Sunday mornings.
Sure, but *the uploader has not made this video available in our countries*
The more I think on Johnson’s Biden, the more I like it as he almost unexpectedly went more muted than brash with it. For example, to think on Carrey’s Biden, he would have been a much more explosive force there, but I feel this one captures the current Biden who is just trying to find a way to balance all that chaos within his own party.I also felt the sketch managed to really take those hits at Sinema as even with Manchin, they kind of showed that you could at least get the idea behind the disruption. That’s not a defense of it, but just a difference.
His take on Biden reminded me a lot of Dan Aykroyd’s Jimmy Carter. Understated, folksy, trying desperately to hold everything together.
I did think they got the points across with Manchin, but why did Aidy do her Ted “Worst Canadian 2021″ Cruz impression?
but I feel this one captures the current Biden who is just trying to find a way to balance all that chaos within his own party.
That’s what bugged me about Carey’s Biden. It wasn’t anything at all like Biden. It was just generic old guy jokes while mugging at the camera.This Biden, while not good in terms of voice, at least gets the idea that Biden is trying to be a moderating force both within his own party, but also toeing the line of being the “American President” he talked time and time again about.He’s just trying to be the President at a time when half the elected officials in Congress want to impeach him (or hang him) and the other half is trying really hard not to rip itself apart trying to push through his agenda with the slim majority it controls.
I thought I was looking at Darrell Hammond.
It had a lot of Hammond’s Clinton impersonation in it—to the point where I had a hard time connecting it with Biden.
It’s not as good as the Biden impression that Dana Carvey did for Steve Colbert. That was the best I’ve seen of present-day Biden.
Hey, they should get that Carvey guy on SNL! I’ll bet he’d crush it.
Yeah, I hear he’s not doing anything special now.
Me too!
Yeah, it was more of a Clinton impersonation than a Biden.It was nothing like Biden.He should’ve done the creepy whisper.
I thought he was doing the whisper, he just wasn’t overdoing it as I’ve seen some do. It didn’t remind me much of Clinton.
Johnson reminds me a lot of Hammond. They both have a chameleon quality to them and are excellent mimics. And their own personalities are so vanilla that they are virtually unrecognizable when they’re not in character.
I thought it was Hammond too.
My first thought seeing the pic was “Oh Darrell Hammon’s doing it?”Then I watched the clip and it’s like someone doing an impersonation of Darrell Hammond doing an impersonation of Joe Biden.
I’m still astonished that this is the same actor who played Fred from TravelWire in Better Call Saul
WHAT
Holy shit, I hadn’t realized! I even just got fully caught up on the series after being two seasons behind.
The whole thing was painfully unfunny. He was fine as Biden but the writing is awful. That’s the best SNL can do? Gonna make for a long season if that’s all they are coming up with.
I found the writing particularly weird for this episode, too. I remember mentioning it to my roommate. Weekend update seemed fine.
totally different writing staff for WU.
Examples? Or are you just going to bitch?
Sure I’ll give you an example. The cold open wasn’t the slightest bit funny and terribly written. Not sure what other evidence you need.
I’ll ask since there aren’t a ton of replies on this yet, but anyone else not getting notifications through kinja for the past week?
I get the notifications but they don’t take me to the comment, but it’s been like that for months.
Same, my notifications started working after posting about it today, but I still can’t go directly to quoted replies from my dashboard. AND, like you said, it’s been that way for months.
They still don’t go to the actual post, but notifications are working for replies.What stopped working recently was notifications for posts being starred.
Pretty much why I haven’t been engaging for the past month or so because I make a comment and then forget about it or its so hard to get to I don’t bother responding.
Yeah, on more crowded comment sections, it takes too long to find a comment to save or respond to after you’ve been notified of a reply.And if there’s a good response that turns out to be in the greys, it’s sometimes impossible to rescue because you can’t actually find it.
What’s the difference at this point? It’s not like you can actually do anything useful with them if you could. Unless I missed something and they finally fixed the part where you can’t click a reply to jump to it.
I thought it was a decent impression but really hard to understand at points.
Unusual for them to give a rookie cast member the presidential impression. They had Fred Armisen keep doing Obama for Jay Pharoah’s first two years on the cast.
I’m guessing this is part of the reason they hired him.
I’m guessing this is part of the reason they hired him.
This dude is going to be the Tim Robinson who DID succeed on SNL.
Would have been a perfect Biden had he worn the signature shades and showed his teeth more. 🙂 Good Job tho.
God SNL has an awful cast.
It’s not bad, certainly better than SNL’s past Biden offerings (though I think Sudekis’ might be the best), but this might be the best you’re gonna be able to do. Biden is kind of a tough impression to pull off to make it entertaining. I thought he did well with it.
Regardless, JAJ had a great opening night. He’s got talent and is gonna be a staple on the show for a few years.
It’s Saturday Night Live! Starring Andy Samberg, Adam Sandler, Sandy Amberg, Angie Sanders, Ambly Andberg, Bergly Sanders, Sandy Sandbirds, Colonel Sanders, Sal Amanders.
New, yes. Improved…uhhhhhhhhhno.
I could watch about half of that cold open. Ugh. Kyle Dunnigan has the best Joe Biden. Laugh out loud funny.