In the midst of an election year with promises of divergent visions for America, “Saturday Night Live” dives into the politics of 2024 to find interesting statements.
The show opened with a satirical TV special celebrating Easter titled “Resurrection” that told the story of three women who witnessed the return of Jesus.
He was quickly interrupted by a flash of light and smoke, and one of the figures asked: “Is it Jesus?”
“Basically, yeah,” said James Austin Johnson as former President Donald Trump as he exited the Flash.
So the three dismissed, “Okay girls, you can go.”
He then proceeded to sell $60 worth of Trump-branded Bibles, which the real Trump revealed on Tuesday. It includes copies of the nation's founding documents and lyrics from Lee Greenwood's country song, “God Bless the United States of America.”
“If you think that's a bad look, imagine how weird it would be if you started selling Bibles,” Trump said at Johnson. “Well, I sell Bibles.”
He said God is Beyoncé's Trinity, presented a muscular image of himself in the Garden of Eden (“my actual body,” he said), and said buyers would get a special Trump toaster.
Johnson's Trump said he produces chips with the former president's face on one side and the Hello Kitty logo on the other.
He then asked his audience to join him in a special Easter Vigil recitation of the Lord's Prayer, during which he skipped lines with nonsense sounds before concluding.
“In the name of the Father, the Son and the Easter Bunny, amen,” Trump said.
Comedian and actor Ramy Youssef hosted SNL and performed a monologue that expanded the show's focus on politics, touching on the war between Israel and Hamas.
He said he was in upstate New York recently for a concert and noticed several Trump campaign posters, signs and banners in the yard. He said this made him reluctant to speak Arabic in public when his mother called him.
He said to her in English: “Mother, peace be upon you and upon the Prophet you know.” “You know what prophet. The best of them. The last of them.”
He wondered whether a member of President Joe Biden's campaign would call again, as they did in 2020, when he was asked to run for president in Michigan, which has a large Arab American population.
Youssef said a campaign aide told him: “Tell the Arabs to vote for Joe and you can change the course of American history.”
He said the request made him envision going to Michigan and making a real difference.
“Is that up to me?” He said. “Am I the man?”
Youssef said that in his imagination, he went to Michigan and campaigned for Biden among Arab Americans, going where they could be easily found. “I'm in every vape store,” he said.
But Youssef said he decided not to do so. The comedian has now said he would like to see a trans woman campaign for the job.
He returned to prayer – “This is all I can do now.”
He said his friends constantly ask him to pray for them, and he does, except that sometimes the prayers are for vastly different purposes. He prayed for freedom for Palestinians, for hostages taken by Hamas activists in the October 7 attack on Israel, and for his friend whose family is suffering in Gaza.
Then there's his friend's dog, who suffered in a custody battle after the breakup.
“Please free the people of Palestine,” Youssef said as he narrated his prayers. “And please release the hostages. All the hostages. Please.”
“And while you're at it, let Mr. Bojangles out. I mean, he's a beautiful dog,” he continued.
“SNL” airs on NBC, a division of NBCUniversal, which is also the parent company of NBC News.
