Sunday, April 9, 2023

James Austin Johnson's 'Trump' hijacks The Last Supper on 'SNL' for Easter

Happy Easter! I'm opening today's holiday post with Trump Easter Cold Open - SNL.

Donald Trump (James Austin Johnson) interrupts a recreation of The Last Supper.
Even a fictional version of The Former Guy couldn't resist making it all about himself. Also, "Saturday Night Live" couldn't resist making fun of TFG's arraignment and the reaction to it, both in the cold open and as the featured story in Weekend Update: Donald Trump's Arraignment, Marjorie Taylor Greene Slams NYC - SNL.

Weekend Update anchors Colin Jost and Michael Che tackle the week's biggest news, like Ron DeSantis signing a bill that allows Florida residents to carry concealed guns without a permit.
This clip covered lots of news, including Clarence Thomas and his wife Ginni taking trips on Harlan Crow's yacht and the expulsion of two Tennessee legislators for protesting gun violence, that I should blog about. In the meantime, I'm glad I mentioned them here; they deserve attention.

Weekend Update wasn't done with Ron DeSantis or the NCAA Women's Basketball championship, but only after Weekend Update: Rupert Murdoch Calls Off Engagement, Pope Francis Praises Sex - SNL.

Weekend Update anchors Colin Jost and Michael Che tackle the week's biggest news, like a YouTuber getting shot in a mall after recording a prank video.
I already have a post planned for the Artemis II astronaut announcement for Yuri's Night. I won't miss it this year!

DeSantis's reaction to Disney subverting DeSantis's replacement for the Reedy Creek Improvement District, Disney World's own government provided the premise for Weekend Update: Jafar on Ron DeSantis ' Attacks on Disney - SNL.

Jafar (Bowen Yang) stops by Weekend Update to discuss Ron DeSantis stepping up his attacks on Disney.
*snort* I hope 'SNL' submits that to the Television Academy for Bowen Yang's third Emmy nomination. He gave DeSantis what he DeServed.

The NCAA Women's Basketball championship returned to Weekend Update: LSU's Angel Reese on Her White House Invitation - SNL.

Angel Reese (Punkie Johnson) stops by Weekend Update to discuss being invited to the White House after LSU's win over Iowa in the NCAA women's basketball championship.
This segment and the previous one both qualify this entry as the Sunday entertainment feature.

Normally I'd skip the last segment of Weekend Update, but I found Co-Worker Who's Extremely Busy Doing Seemingly Nothing on Returning to the Office so hilarious that I'm embedding it.

A co-worker who's extremely busy doing seemingly nothing (Heidi Gardner) stops by Weekend Update to discuss Americans returning to the office in person.
Welcome to post-pandemic work life.

I close the highlights section of this entry with CNN App - SNL.

A commercial advertises an app where reporters detail Trump's indictment and arrest in a new way.
As I first wrote in 'SNL' on Thanksgiving and repeated in 'SNL' shares scary news for Halloween 2022, "This clip serves as another demonstration of the commercials parodies being one of the best parts of 'SNL.' When they're on, they're on, and this one was ON!"

Follow over the jump for the retrospective of the most read holiday posts from the back catalog that I promised in PBS Eons and SciShow on Piltdown Man for April Fools Day, a Science Saturday holiday special.


It almost seems like it wouldn't be one of my holiday retrospectives without an entry featuring Broken Peach, so I'm happy to open this list of most read holiday entries from the back catalog during the twelfth year of this blog with perennial favorite Broken Peach: Singing Spanish goths and witches for Halloween from October 28, 2017. It earned ~2,270 raw page views between March 21, 2022 and March 20, 2023, placing it sixth by that measure, nine places higher than last year's fifteenth with ~1,850 raw page views. Once again, its readers all came from web search; I did no Twitter promotion of the link during spooky season in 2022, but it still ranked 23rd with 383 raw page views during October 2022 and 28th with 329 raw page views during November 2022. Those page views added to the ~9,560 it had total last year to reach ~11,800, pushing it from ninth over A comparison of two measures of media bias shows readers and viewers respond to both ideology and quality and Doctors to Congress: Fund gun violence research at the CDC and NIH to seventh all time.


This past year's peak wasn't as tall as during years past, but it was much broader, beginning in July and ending in December. While its page views fell to their lowest monthly levels ever, I expect it will return in next year's edition of this post because of its evergreen popularity during spooky season.

To celebrate, I'm sharing a different song from the original post than I usually do, Broken Peach - I Put A Spell On You (Live on The Night Of The Halloween Specials).

"I Put A Spell On You" is a 1956 song written by Jay Hawkins, whose recording was selected as one of the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame's 500 Songs that Shaped Rock and Roll. In 1993, @Bette Midler starred with Sarah Jessica Parker and Kathy Najimy in the @Disney, Hocus Pocus. The Sanderson Sisters covered the song & this is our humble tribute!
It turns out my wife and I had never watched "Hocus Pocus," so we watched it Halloween weekend. Then we watched "Hocus Pocus II," which is on my short list for Outstanding Television Movie at this year's Emmy Awards. I bet Broken Peach sings "One Way or Another," the equivalent song from the sequel, this fall. Any takers?

Colbert says 'Daylight Saving Time is not helpful and has no upside' from November 6, 2021 returned for a second year in the top twenty posts by raw page views. This year, it earned another ~2,080 raw page views, all by web search, to rank eleventh overall during the twelfth year of this blog. It now has ~5,170 raw page views all time.

Its page views collapsed after December 2022, so I'd be surprised if it returns.

'Murder hornets' return for World Honey Bee Day from August 21, 2021, also returned to the top twenty posts by page view with ~2,040, putting it in a statistical tie with 'SNL' opens with holiday greetings from Fauci and others, itself a holiday post from the back catalog, for twelfth. It now has ~5,210 raw page views all time.


Its page views also collapsed after December 2022, so I'd be surprised if it returns.


Local news coverage of marching bands in the 2021 Macy's Parade for Thanksgiving from November 24, 2021 earned ~1,990 raw page views by web search to rank 15th overall during the twelfth year of Crazy Eddie's Motie News. It now has ~3,380 raw page views all time.


That concludes the look back at last year's top holiday posts by page views. I have one more, as the most saved pins of posts last year were about holidays, animals, or pirates, in that order, so watch for me to cover those on a holiday about animals. Fortunately, there are a lot of those. Stay tuned.

Previous posts in this series Previous retrospectives about holidays. Previous retrospectives about the back catalog.
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