Mediaboss Marketing

What started out looking like an almost reverential treatment at least by Saturday Night Live standards of the Easter holiday quickly gave way to a satirical monologue from former President Donald J. Trump, comparing his own recent indictment on 34 felony charges of falsifying business records to the victimization of Jesus.

This weekends S.N.L. broadcast, hosted by Molly Shannon and featuring the Jonas Brothers as musical guests, began with a recreation of the Last Supper, performed by its cast and featuring Mikey Day as Jesus.

Alas, one of you will betray me, Day told the other cast members playing the Disciples, adding: Though I have committed no crime, I will be arrested, tried and found guilty.

Enter James Austin Johnson, in his recurring role as Trump. Sound familiar? Johnson said, taking over the scene. A famous, wonderful man, arrested for no reason at all. If you havent put it together, folks, Im comparing myself to Jesus, again. And what better time than on his birthday, Easter.

Johnson continued, As we speak, I am being persecuted on a level the likes of which the world has never seen, even worse than the late, great Jesus. He pointed to other ways in which he felt he was comparable to Jesus, if not superior: He rose from the dead on the third day, Johnson said. I would have done it faster. Possibly two days. I think we could have done it a lot faster. He had a good mind for business. Water into wine pure profit. And he had big, big rallies just like me.

Similarly, Johnson said a lot of his followers got into trouble too: All because I told them exactly what Jesus would have said, Get very violent and start a war.

The holiday, Johnson said, had him excited to hide Easter eggs. I have many beautiful eggs from my time at the White House, he said. And now the Department of Justice is saying: Where are the eggs? We need the eggs back. But I hid them. Theyre my eggs. Theyre my eggs to take, OK?

As he wrapped up, Johnson struck one more comparison: Just like Jesus, all I did was be friendly to a sex worker, and now they want to put me in jail, he said.

Returning to host S.N.L. for only the second time since she left the program in 2001 (the first time was in 2007), Shannon was in no hurry to revisit the revered sketch characters she portrayed during her time on the show. If you waited until nearly the end of the night, though, you at last got this segment in which her high-kickin dancer Sally OMalley returned to become a choreographer for the Jonas Brothers. (The JoBros eventually shed their breakaway outfits to reveal they were wearing OMalley-esque red dresses, too.)

Earlier in the night, Shannons less heralded stand-up comic character Jeannie Darcy got an ad for her own, low-energy Netflix special. And a video segment from the Please Dont Destroy team paid tribute to Shannons convivial energy by imagining her as the unlikely protagonist of a video game (which Shannon herself tries to play).

Over at the Weekend Update desk, the anchors Colin Jost and Michael Che continued to riff on Trumps indictment.

Jost began:

The Wall Street Journal is calling on Russia to release one of their journalists, who was arrested on espionage charges. And I might have the perfect idea for a prisoner swap. [His screen shows a photograph of Trump in court.] Former President Trump was arraigned on Tuesday, and a photographer released this photo of Trump in the courtroom. And I dont like that hes flanked by an O.J. amount of lawyers. Because that tells me hes definitely guilty and that hes definitely getting away with it.

He continued:

Trumps lawyer Joe Tacopina, a.k.a. Phony Soprano, said he doesnt think Trump is going to get a fair trial in Manhattan, and I agree. Even the courtroom sketch artist seems to hate him. I thought Trump looked perfectly nice. He had blended his foundation. Stapled down his hair. But then he drew him like the mud monster from Scooby-Doo.

Che picked up the thread:

After his arraignment, Donald Trump spoke to supporters at Mar-a-Lago and said there was a very dark cloud over our beloved country. Which is also what he used to call Obama. Insiders are saying that since Donald Trumps indictment, his daughter Ivanka has been absent and his other daughter Tiffany is trying to take her place by his side. Just as soon as she gets through security.

Mining the latest developments in the conflict between Gov. Ron DeSantis of Florida and the Walt Disney Company, Bowen Yang appeared at the Weekend Update desk as Jafar, the antagonist from Disneys animated musical Aladdin.

Affecting a very respectable Jonathan Freeman impersonation, Yang said that DeSantis was an amateur when it came to villainy: He has no rizz, no spark, no drip. Still, Yang said the governor was plenty evil, adding, I mean, banning Rosa Parks in schools? Im a dark sorcerer and even I was like, Jesus, dude, its Rosa Parks.

But if DeSantis wants to keep gay people out of Disney and its theme parks, Yang said, That carpet has flown, know what I mean? Besides, Yang added: Theres already a Disney World where nothing gay happens. Its called Six Flags.

You had to hang in there until the end of the episode to catch this, but it was worth staying up for: a fake commercial for a service called CNZen that is partly a news source and partly a meditation app but one thats intended for stressed-out people who have made hatred of Trump the basis of their entire personalities.

When needed, the app serves its users salient details about Trumps indictment and gentle voice-overs from CNN talent (and The New York Timess Maggie Haberman, played by Shannon). If you find yourself feeling lethargic at any time of day, Sarah Sherman as a whispery, wide-eyed Wolf Blitzer will either lull you to sleep or startle you back to full attention.

Continued here:
'S.N.L.' Brings Donald Trump to the Last Supper for Easter Weekend - The New York Times