Sunday, January 21, 2024

'Trump' brags about his cognitive abilities as 'SNL' returns after winning 2 Emmy Awards

I told my readers to "Stay tuned for highlights of Saturday Night Live's first show of the new year, when I plan on covering its Emmy Awards as well as the one Emmy won by A Black Lady Sketch Show." Without any further ado, I present Trump Courthouse Cold Open.

Donald Trump (James Austin Johnson) speaks to the media after appearing in court for his E. Jean Carroll defamation trial.
I was wondering when I'd encounter someone else calling Ambassador Haley "Darling Nikki." It took SNL's writers to do it; the real Trump would rather call her "Birdbrain" — coming from him, that's rich, although projection is the Right's favorite defense mechanism and Trump projects, so it should be expected — or Nimrada, a mangling of her real first name, Nimarata, which doubles as an allusion to Nimrod and a xenophobic/racist dog whistle, one of which we'll see and hear during Weekend Update. Speaking of insulting nicknames, Ron DeStupid for Ron DeSantis works for me, but again that was SNL's writers, not Trump. He needs better writers, not that he would follow their lead or even understand what he's reading until after he hears himself say it.

Trump's cognitive issues were among the subjects of Weekend Update: Trump Sports Mysterious Hand Rash, CNN Cancels Republican Debate.

Weekend Update anchors Colin Jost and Michael Che tackle the week's biggest news, like Trump eyeing Rep. Elise Stefanik as his running mate for the 2024 presidential election.
The likely rematch between Biden and Trump reminds me of what I first wrote last February.
A fellow guest at a party I attended in the summer of 2016 asked me how we got TFG and Hillary Clinton as nominees. I told him that the parties got the nominees they deserved. The Republicans got TFG because the party was too weak and the Democrats got Hillary Clinton because the party was too strong. He laughed ruefully and asked if the American people deserved the nominees. I told him that was another matter entirely.
I elaborated on that last month, writing "That's still true and is why we're almost certainly going to get a rematch between TFG and Joe Biden next year" — now this year.

Speaking of strong parties, I'm recycling what I included in Colbert, Meyers, and Kimmel return from the Emmys to take closer looks at the Iowa Caucus about Elise Stefanik calling for everyone else but Trump to drop out and endorse the former President. I saw that and reacted on Twitter/X. The video description mentioned Stefanik, but I didn't recall hearing her mentioned (did you?) so I'm making up for the apparent omission.

Follow over the jump for the rest of Weekend Update, an ad parody, and SNL's and A Black Lady Sketch Show's Emmy Awards.

Weekend Update continued with Man Trapped in Plane Bathroom, Elton John Earns an E.G.O.T.

Weekend Update anchors Colin Jost and Michael Che tackle the week’s biggest news, like a new study finding that vaping while pregnant doesn’t harm the baby.
Elton John winning an Emmy Award to complete his EGOT qualifies this as the Sunday entertainment feature. It also means I need to revisit the Gold Derby experts prediction I included in Trevor Noah, Wanda Sykes, and Chris Rock, comedians nominated at the Golden Globes, Grammys, and Emmys, "Five of them have Elton John Live: Farewell from Dodger Stadium as their first choice..." Good call! Elton John Live: Farewell from Dodger Stadium also won two Creative Arts Emmys for Outstanding Sound Mixing for a Variety Series or Special and Outstanding Technical Direction, Camerawork, Video Control for a Special. Congratulations to Sir Elton and his technical crew!

SNL revisted the flying mishaps in an ad parody I'm embedding at the end of the post, but first I'm returning to a story reported in the first Weekend Update segment, Sen. Tim Scott on Why He's Endorsing Donald Trump.

Sen. Tim Scott (Devon Walker) stops by Weekend Update to discuss why he's endorsing Donald Trump for president.
I wrote there was a racist dog whistle during Weekend Update and there were two of them, one figurative and one literal!

The post began with bad courtroom behavior (TFG not complying with a gag order and his lawyer Alina Habba being inexperienced) and Weekend Update ended with more bad courtroom behavior in Deobra Redden on Attacking the Judge During His Trial.

Deobra Redden stops by Weekend Update to discuss how he attacked the judge during his trial.
That clip worked well for closing a circle, but yikes at the actual incident!

I conclude the episode highlights segment of this post with Alaska Airlines Ad, the ad parody I mentioned above.

Alaska Airlines employees (Jacob Elordi, Kenan Thompson, Heidi Gardner) share the company’s new slogan after a cabin door broke off mid-flight.
As I wrote most recently in 'SNL' expels George Santos in its cold open, itself recycled from 'SNL' searches for comedy in classified documents.
As I wrote in 'SNL' on Thanksgiving and repeated in 'SNL' shares scary news for Halloween 2022, "This clip serves as another demonstration of the commercial...parodies being one of the best parts of 'SNL.' When they're on, they're on, and this one was ON!"
Yes, it was, making this episode much better than 'SNL' tries to turn a week of unfunny news into comedy and gets saved by Adam Driver and Olivia Rodrigo, which suprised me by being the third most read during calendar year 2023 according to default page views, fourth most read according to raw page views, and sixth most read overall. It will definitely be the lead entry in one of my retrospective of 2023-2024 this coming March and April unless one of my SNL highlights posts surpasses it. I'm not optimistic about that.

This reminds me that it's time to replace Olivia Rodrigo's videos, which SNL has made private now that Rodrigo is hosting them on her own YouTube channel, but before I do, it's time to revisit the categories I covered in Pete Davidson hosts as 'Saturday Night Live' returns to recognize SNL's two Creative Arts Emmy Awards, one more than they won for 2021-2022.

Outstanding Directing for a Variety Series
Jimmy Kimmel Live!: "20th Anniversary Special" - Andy Fisher (ABC)
Last Week Tonight with John Oliver: "Afghanistan" - Paul Pennolino (HBO)
The Late Show with Stephen Colbert: "John Oliver; Broadway Cast of The Lion King" - Jim Hoskinson (CBS)
The Problem with Jon Stewart: "Chaos, Law, and Order" - André Allen (Apple TV+)
Saturday Night Live: "Co-Hosts: Steve Martin & Martin Short" - Liz Patrick (NBC)
Last year's winner A Black Lady Sketch Show did not return as a nominee, leaving this field wide open. While I think The Late Show with Stephen Colbert is probably the best bet among the variety talk series, hence the promotional image the show tweeted (xeeted?) I used above, it's not my pick to win. Instead, I think four-time previous winner Saturday Night Live is the favorite.
Lucky for me, the experts at Gold Derby think so, too. Looks like SNL is walking away with one Emmy, same as last year.
And it got this Emmy, as predicted. To celebrate, I'm embedding Liz Patrick's Big Win as 'Saturday Night Live' Director by Gossip Herald.



That's one award. I finally made a call for the second, sort of, in A late celebration of RuPaul's birthday with the Emmy nominations for 'Drag Race'.

Outstanding Production Design for a Variety, Reality or Competition Series (Area)
A Black Lady Sketch Show: "Peek-A-Boob, Your Titty's Out" - Cindy Chao, Michele Yu, and Lizzie Boyle (HBO)
Last Week Tonight with John Oliver: "Museums" - Eric Morrell and Sabrina Lederer (HBO)
Queer Eye: "Speedy for Life" - Thomas Rouse and Tyka Edwards (Netflix)
RuPaul's Drag Race: "Blame It on the Edit" - Gianna Costa and Brad Bailey (MTV)
Saturday Night Live: "Host: Steve Martin & Martin Short" / "Host: Jenna Ortega" - Akira Yoshimura, Keith Ian Raywood, Andrea Purcigliotti, and Danielle Webb (NBC)
Saturday Night Live won this award five years in a row so I picked it win this award last year, but RuPaul's Drag Race won instead. I think the two shows are the co-favorites, but I'll wait to make my final pick after I look at the competition shows and scripted variety programs.
I'm not quite ready to give up on the Emmy voters reverting to form by voting for Saturday Night Live, but I'm not as confident as I was last year, so I'll stick to picking both as co-favorites.
The Television Academy indeed reverted to form by voting for SNL. To celebrate the win, I'm sharing SNL Production Design Team at the 75th Creative Arts Emmys from Foundation Interviews.


Congratulations!

Outstanding Picture Editing for Variety Programming (Area)
A Black Lady Sketch Show: "My Love Language Is Words of Defamation" - Stephanie Filo, Malinda Zehner Guerra, and Taylor Joy Mason (HBO)
Carol Burnett: 90 Years of Laughter + Love - Mike Polito and Timothy Schultz (NBC)
The Daily Show with Trevor Noah: "Jordan Klepper Shows Trump Supporters January 6th Hearing Clips" - Storm Choi, Eric Davies, Tom Favilla, Lauren Beckett Jackson, Nikolai Johnson, Ryan Middleton, Mark Paone, Erin Shannon, Catherine Trasborg, and Einar Westerlund (Comedy Central)
History of the World, Part II: "III" - Angel Gamboa Bryant, Stephanie Filo, Daniel Flesher, and George Mandl (Hulu)
Saturday Night Live: "HBO Mario Kart Trailer" (Segment) - Ryan Spears and Christopher Salerno (NBC)
The Daily Show with Trevor Noah would win a game of "one of these things is not like the others," as two of the nominees are scripted variety shows and the other two are variety specials, if History of the World, Part II counts (Hamilton did). It's also likely to lose, as A Black Lady Sketch Show is the two-time defending winner.
Now three-time consecutive winner! Congratulations!

I couldn't find a clip of the editors accepting or reacting to their award, but I did find Gold Derby's Robin Thede ('A Black Lady Sketch Show' creator) on the Emmys 2023 red carpet saying she was honored that the show's editors won again this year.


Again, congratulations to all the winners!

I plan on returning with more Emmy coverage tomorrow so long as Last Week Tonight with John Oliver broadcasts a new episode tonight. Unlike last season, the show won two Emmy Awards. If not, I'll come up with something. Stay tuned!

Previous posts about the 2023 Primetime and Creative Arts Emmy Awards
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