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    "original_url": "https:\/\/www.nytimes.com\/2026\/09\/27\/arts\/television\/snl-season-52-premiere-jalen-brunson-mamdani.html?emc=edit_na_20260928&nl=breaking-news&segment_id=227198",
    "parsed_content": "AdvertisementSKIP ADVERTISEMENTSupported bySKIP ADVERTISEMENT\u2018S.N.L.\u2019 Season Premiere: Buckets of Rain, With Jalen Brunson ReigningBrunson, captain of the N.B.A. champion New York Knicks, hosted a \u201cSaturday Night Live\u201d show that satirized President Trump\u2019s recent visit to Mayor Zohran Mamdani.Listen \u00b7 8:09 min Share full articleA somewhat bedraggled Natalie Harp (Ashley Padilla) introduces herself to Mayor Zohran Mamdani (Ramy Youssef), telling him and President Trump (James Austin Johnson) that she had walked to New York from Washington.Credit...NBC Universal, via YouTubeBy Dave ItzkoffSept. 27, 2026See more of our coverage in your search results.Encuentra m\u00e1s de nuestra cobertura en los resultados de b\u00fasqueda. Add The New York Times on GoogleAgrega The New York Times en Google Neither snow nor rain nor a powerful nor\u2019easter battering the Northeast was going to stop \u201cSaturday Night Live\u201d from kicking off its 52nd season with a sendup of President Trump.This weekend\u2019s broadcast, hosted by Jalen Brunson and featuring the musical guest KATSEYE, tipped off with James Austin Johnson in his recurring role as Trump, paying a visit to Gracie Mansion and his new BFF, Mayor Zohran Mamdani of New York. (Hizzoner was presumably occupied in real life, so the comic actor Ramy Youssef played the role as he has in the past.)After recording a quick viral video to warn New Yorkers to shelter in place during the coming storm, Youssef was told by an aide (Veronika Slowikowska) that he had a visitor. \u201cWhat reckless lunatic would travel to see me in this kind of weather?\u201d he asked. \u201cThat\u2019s crazy.\u201dEnter Johnson as Trump: \u201cFor some reason that no one can figure out, I really, really like you,\u201d he said.AdvertisementSKIP ADVERTISEMENT\u201cWouldn\u2019t you rather be in D.C.?\u201d Youssef asked. \u201cWe\u2019re in the middle of El Ni\u00f1o.\u201dJohnson answered, \u201cWe don\u2019t like big storms, especially when they\u2019re in Spanish.\u201d\u201cLet\u2019s just pray that it passes quickly,\u201d Youssef said.\u201cOh, I don\u2019t pray at all,\u201d Johnson said. \u201cI don\u2019t go to church on Christmas \u2014 nor Easter. Boom! Somehow when I\u2019m with you I\u2019m just firing on all cylinders.\u201dJohnson recapped a week of meetings with top A.I. executives and China\u2019s leader, Xi Jinping, while Youssef warned he had important work to do, too: \u201cI have to go to Bushwick and give ketamine to underprivileged bisexuals,\u201d Youssef said.Johnson was told he had a visitor of his own: \u201cWhat reckless lunatic would travel to see me in this kind of weather?\u201d he asked.AdvertisementSKIP ADVERTISEMENTIt was a rain-soaked Natalie Harp, the executive assistant (played by Ashley Padilla). \u201cI ran here from DC, \u2018Weapons\u2019-style,\u201d Padilla said, mimicking a signature move from that hit horror movie.Johnson said admiringly, \u201cShe\u2019s like the girl from \u2018Obsession,\u2019 but blond.\u201d (Padilla responded by duplicating Inde Navarrette\u2019s trademark pout from that film.)Despite Youssef\u2019s attempts to usher him out, Johnson said he didn\u2019t want to go back to D.C. \u201cPlease let me stay here with you,\u201d Johnson begged.\u201cOnly if you give us $21 billion for a housing project in Queens.\u201d Youssef said.\u201cAre you out of your mind?\u201d Johnson bellowed.\u201cWhat if I follow you back on Instagram?\u201d Youssef asked.\u201cIt\u2019s a done deal,\u201d Johnson said.Opening monologue of the weekWhat were the odds that Brunson, the New York Knicks captain and point guard who led his team to their first N.B.A. championship in 53 years (and was named the 2026 N.B.A. Finals MVP in the process) wouldn\u2019t take a well-deserved victory lap in his \u201cS.N.L.\u201d monologue? About the same as this recapper successfully holding his own against Brunson in a one-on-one match \u2014 that is, virtually nil.AdvertisementSKIP ADVERTISEMENT\u201cTonight,\u201d Brunson said, \u201cI\u2019m going to approach hosting the same way I approach a Knicks finals game. So the first three quarters of the show are going to be godawful. But the last sketch is going to be amazing.\u201dHe accepted a long-winded apology from the ESPN broadcaster Stephen A. Smith (played by Kenan Thompson) and took audience questions from his real-life Knicks teammates Karl-Anthony Towns, Josh Hart, Mikal Bridges and OG Anunoby.Anunoby asked him, \u201cRemember in Game 4, when you took that shot at the end, and you missed it? Do you remember what happened after?\u201dBrunson answered meekly, \u201cYeah, you tipped it in.\u201d\u201cOh yeah,\u201d Anunoby said. \u201cThat was awesome.\u201dSlam dunks of the week\u201cS.N.L.\u201d can sometimes be hamstrung by hosts plucked from the world of professional sports, who understandably lack the comedic chops of its full-time cast members. But this week, the show found numerous ways to capitalize on Brunson\u2019s laconic off-court charm as well as his basketball skills.In one emblematic sketch, Brunson played a seemingly run-of-the-mill cubicle worker named Darius, who is irrationally determined to sink a basket of crumpled paper in a wastebasket on the other side of his office. The obvious premise gets funnier through repetition; Darius\u2019s increasingly absurd excuses to retake the shot (\u201cTurns out it was Daylight Saving Time\u201d); and the revelation that he is, of course, Brunson in disguise. (\u201cThat explains why he drives a neon orange Maserati!\u201d Sarah Sherman shouts in feigned excitement.)AdvertisementSKIP ADVERTISEMENTHe also gave Jeremy Culhane a hilarious pants-ing (figuratively and literally) in a parody of \u201cHigh School Musical\u201d that cast Culhane as a cocky student athlete whose song-and-dance numbers are of little help when a new student (Brunson) shows up to challenge him for a spot on the school\u2019s basketball team.Weekend Update jokes of the weekOver at the Weekend Update desk, the anchors Colin Jost and Michael Che continued to riff on the Chinese president\u2019s visit to the White House, as well as developments at the annual United Nations General Assembly.Jost began:On Thursday, Chinese President Xi Jinping arrived in D.C. for a state visit and President Trump drove to meet him at the airport like a boyfriend with no job. Then, Trump ordered military jets to do a flyover to project American strength. Let\u2019s see how that went. [His screen played video of Trump wincing as the jets passed overhead.] I don\u2019t know if he projected strength, but it looked like he projected something. President Xi also announced that China would be gifting America two giant pandas. The pandas will be sent to live in the research lab at Anthropic. [His screen showed an image of two pandas wearing cameras on their foreheads.]Che continued:The president of Iran addressed the U.N. General Assembly and accused the United States of terrorism. That\u2019s ridiculous, Americans don\u2019t do terrorism. We do isolated acts of mental illness. With a gun. Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu addressed an almost empty chamber at the U.N. after delegates walked out in protest over Israel\u2019s war in Gaza. I guess wherever Netanyahu shows up, there\u2019s going to be some relocating.Weekend Update desk characters of the weekJane Wickline, a frequent visitor to the Update desk, made a promising start in her rookie outing as the Anthropic chief executive Dario Amodei, attempting to paper over concerns about artificial intelligence. (\u201cDon\u2019t you guys keep saying that it\u2019s going to cure cancer?\u201d Che asked her. \u201cPut it this way,\u201d Wickline said. \u201cIn ten years, there\u2019s about a 10 percent chance that cancer won\u2019t be a problem for anyone.\u201d)But this week\u2019s MVP Award goes to Culhane, making a return appearance in his role as the conservative commentator Tucker Carlson, who found various reasons to huff and puff incredulously about the summer\u2019s blockbuster movies. \u201cEverybody loves \u2018Spider-Man: Brand New Gender,\u2019\u201d Culhane complained, as he broke into song: \u201cSpider-They, Spider-Them. Uses whatever bathroom it feels like.\u201dAdvertisementSKIP ADVERTISEMENT\u201cI\u2019ve lost my train of thought,\u201d Culhane said at one point. \u201cBut where did it go? And why?\u201d\u201cStop asking yourself questions,\u201d an exasperated Jost told him.Is this where we stop? It is. Will we be back next week? Maybe.AdvertisementSKIP ADVERTISEMENT",
    "published_at": "2026-09-27T13:04:12+00:00",
    "author_name": "Dave Itzkoff",
    "site_name": "The New York Times",
    "section": "Television",
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    "ai_headline": "\u2018S.N.L.\u2019 Season Premiere: Buckets of Rain, With Jalen Brunson Reigning",
    "ai_simplified_title": "Jalen Brunson Hosts SNL Season 52 Premiere",
    "ai_excerpt": "Jalen Brunson, captain of the NBA champion New York Knicks, hosted the \"Saturday Night Live\" season 52 premiere. The episode satirized President Trump's visit to Mayor Zohran Mamdani and featured musical guest KATSEYE.",
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