Saturday Night Live recently announced the addition of three new cast members to the iconic show, and one of them does an impression of former Republican President Donald Trump that is so dead-on if you closed your eyes you might confuse him for the real thing.
James Austin Johnson's take on the former President has been delighting the internet for a while, but now it seems we'll be seeing it on our TVs too when SNL returns for its 47th season. And with Trump still ubiquitous and hinting at a 2024 run, it's easy to see why.
After all, someone's going to have to do Trump for the show and, well—see for yourself below.
If Johnson isn't the guy for the job it's hard to imagine who could be.
OMG TRUMP UNLEASHES 'FURY' ON BIDEN ADMIN IN TRIUMPHANT CPAC SPEECH: "UNDER [BIDEN], BOWSER... TOO BIG, [SUPER] MARIO CAN'T KEEP UP!!"pic.twitter.com/cv7lqEkldf— James Austin Johnson (@James Austin Johnson) 1614555308
Shockingly good, isn't it?
So how does he do it? Johnson spoke with Vanity Fair about the impression last year just after the election, telling the magazine how exactly he creates this brand of somehow insanely realistic absurdity.
"I tend to hover around Rally Trump, and there's absolutely no rehearsal there. I pick a pop-culture topic, usually something that is an actual opinion I actually hold."
Hence the Trump monologue about Super Mario Brothers above—or this one, about Trump complaining about how Pokémon games work.
OMG DON CLAIMS HE "BEAT" POKEMON, HAS NOT CAUGHT 'EM ALL... TRUMP: "GAME ENDS WHEN YOU BEAT ELITE FOUR"pic.twitter.com/xSHxHCtlkG— James Austin Johnson (@James Austin Johnson) 1604509928
Of course, Johnson has big shoes to fill if he's going to be SNL's new resident Trump lampooner. Actor Alec Baldwin's Trump impression was so perfect he won an Emmy for the performance in 2017.
But Baldwin has been over the gig for a while.
Back in 2019, he told Deadline doing the impression sometimes made him "hope a meteor hits this building and it kills me" because the former President "likes any attention he gets." When Trump lost the 2020 election, Baldwin tweeted that he'd never been "this overjoyed to lose a job before!"
If anyone is a worthy successor to Baldwin, it's Johnson, and on Twitter people were all about this new SNL casting choice.
James Austin Johnson is hilarious, he's probably the best trump impersonator I can think of.https://twitter.com/shrimpjaj/status/1366170100588404737?lang=en\u00a0\u2026— Matthew Brady (@Matthew Brady) 1632759728
BIG James Austin Johnson FAN here...wow, looking forward to SNL again!!https://twitter.com/timheidecker/status/1442521113242701826\u00a0\u2026— Mr. Bob Odenkirk (@Mr. Bob Odenkirk) 1632768248
@shrimpJAJ!!!! What a delightful and consistently funny human!— Nicky Urban (@Nicky Urban) 1632767560
SNL casting James Austin Johnson a year after Trump was voted out is a great bit and I respect ithttps://twitter.com/dylmdav/status/1442525630206255105\u00a0\u2026— Maddie (@Maddie) 1632777961
Happy to see James Austin Johnson joining SNL, no doubt entirely thanks to this piece I wrote on why his Trump impersonation is the only one that mattershttps://slate.com/culture/2020/10/james-austin-johnson-best-trump-impression-in-history.html\u00a0\u2026— Adam Sternbergh (@Adam Sternbergh) 1632766824
James Austin Johnson is the only thing that can make me watch this show again I am SCREAMINGhttps://twitter.com/nbcsnl/status/1442519716623372288\u00a0\u2026— piper (@piper) 1632760913
I went to college with James Austin Johnson (he just went by Austin back then). We took improv together and he told me I was funny once, which I remember because he was a "cool guy." He's always been hilarious. This makes a million different kinds of sense. Can't wait to watch.https://twitter.com/nbcsnl/status/1442519716623372288\u00a0\u2026— \ud83d\udc7b\ud83c\udf83 non-binary weeb mom has baji brainrot \ud83c\udf83\ud83d\udc7b (@\ud83d\udc7b\ud83c\udf83 non-binary weeb mom has baji brainrot \ud83c\udf83\ud83d\udc7b) 1632801960
I didn't recognize the name James Austin Johnson when he was announced as a new SNL cast member but then I remembered he's the guy that does the insanely good Trump impression, AND then I learned he had a bit part in Better Call Saul. This man is on firehttps://twitter.com/shrimpJAJ/status/1324036720870985729\u00a0\u2026— \u2133att (@\u2133att) 1632777221
Guys, @shrimpJAJ, James Austin Johnson, is joining SNL this season. I think this is the beginning of something big.https://youtu.be/EcuM__iw8mA— Brannon McAllister (@Brannon McAllister) 1632792617
james austin johnson is gonna be a STAR !!!!! i loved him on pbo and have kept up w all his funny and genius trump impression rants since (my fave being the one about rudy). genuinely such a cool guy and i\u2019m stoked for himhttps://twitter.com/nbcsnl/status/1442519716623372288\u00a0\u2026— kimmy (@kimmy) 1632774557
The new season of SNL begins this Saturday, October 2.
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