James Talarico Appears in SNL Cold Open as Himself

Talarico’s cold-open surprise cameo echoed moments like Kamala Harris’ 2024 turn-up, in which she played opposite her celebrity impersonator Maya Rudolph ahead of the election, while Hillary Clinton and Sarah Palin also made unexpected appearances as White House candidates more than a decade ago. A senator or senator-elect, however, is rarer, and the moment both reflected and reinforced the emergent media celebrity of the new class of Congressional Democrats, many of them in their 30s or early 40s.

Johnson’s Trump, at least, is not a fan.

“The next few years are going to be horrible,” he said, pausing a comic beat. “It’s not that they’re Democrats; it’s that they’re Millennials.” He then lamented the return of generational staples like “adorkable” and the show New Girl.

The president and the Republican party were handed several heaping platters of whoopings in the midterms, as Democrats gained at least 42 seats in the House and seven in the Senate. Voters rejected both Trump’s policies and personality as they voted for a wide range of change, especially on the economy.

Johnson — who told The Hollywood Reporter last year that “I don’t want to call what I’m doing Shakespeare, but I am trying to find the deeper forms of Trump, who is a rich text” — went full Hamlet Saturday with a digression about when New Girl started finding good storylines (it involved Winston and the cat).

Johnson has been been appearing (or crashing) the cold open as the president seemingly every week since Trump’s return to office, and writers gave Talarico one of the best lines of the sketch in letting him…question that choice.

“People want something new; they want something different,” Talarico said, appearing to be talking about electoral politics, before the comic pivot. “I’m talking about SNL’s cold opens,” he said turning to Trump to ask him how long he will continue doing this shtick. “Infinity,” Johnson’s Trump said. They don’t want to talk about it, but we have to talk about it.

Johnson’s Trump also engaged in what might be a bon voyage to Colin Jost’s Pete Hegseth; with the defense secretary rumored to be leaving the administration, it could end Jost’s well-regarded impression run too.

“Do I look like a person who gets less crazy when backed into a corner?” Jost asked as he walked onto the sketch, adding, “I live a YOLO life: you only lose often.” He then sashayed off, backside first, playing to the new Trumpian rumpian obsession.

The sketch began with Sarah Sherman’s Chuck Schumer and Kenan Thompson’s Hakeem Jeffries taking credit for victories that were only partly their doing and then describing their post-midterm plan.

“As our first order of business we are going to march right up to Donald Trump, look him right in the eye and say, ‘Knock it off buster,’” Thompson’s Jeffries said, mocking a perceived ineffectuality of current Congressional Democratic leadership.

As they rhetorically asked who was responsible for pulling off all the wins, Johnson’s Trump appeared and took upside-down credit: “Me,” he boasted.

Talarico’s appearance on SNL provides a bookend — and a bit of sweet revenge — for the Texas politician after broader threats by FCC chair Brendan Carr led ABC and Jimmy Kimmel in September to move an appearance of Talarico’s on Jimmy Kimmel Live! off broadcast television to YouTube, a decision both Kimmel and the candidate condemned. The ostensible reason that Carr would take issue was because Talarico was a candidate, triggering an equal-time provision, even though both Republican and Democratic candidates have long appeared on late-night shows. With Talarico officially a senator-elect, all of that is moot.

Druski hosted the Nov. 7 episode.