‘SNL’ Cold Open Isn’t Funny Enough to Joke About ICE In Chicago

There’s nothing funny about what Donald Trump’s collection of walking-lip-injections-turned-fascist-puppets is doing to this country. U.S. Attorney General Pam Bondi is arming the president with the legal firepower to steamroll the Constitution and Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem is arming the president with high-school dropouts to steamroll American cities. 

This tag team of Botox and brute force has resulted in an endless stream of nauseating images out of Chicago. Toddlers being forced out of their beds, their tiny arms trapped in zip ties. Men ripped out of their cars, shoved to the ground for the perceived offense of appearing Latino. People shot. People abducted. By all accounts, Chicago is a real hellscape. 

Making fun of the people responsible for these horrors is important. But if the jokes aren’t scathing, if it isn’t clear you’re making fun of people from a place of derision, you’re just giving fascists even more screentime. One guest on Fox News recently characterized getting spoofed on Saturday Night Live as a rite of passage. You don’t want the people you’re mocking to be honored by the experience when those people are the architects of projects like “killing migrants in detention centers.” 

So when Tina Fey and Amy Poehler returned to SNL for the second episode of Season 51 to do a cold open as Noem and Bondi, respectively, the bar was set high. Finally, we were getting a Trump-free cold open. But that’s where the relief ended. The jokes, in comparison to the season premiere, felt defanged. There was nothing biting, a lack of real animus toward the people being mocked. So instead, I just sat in a dark living room watching two famous comedians deliver a series of unfunny jokes about a deeply unfunny topic. 

And we know that both women are capable of delivering truly scathing renderings of powerful politicians. Fey’s Sarah Palin was so convincing it permanently altered the public perception of the former Vice Presidential candidate. Poehler’s Hillary Clinton didn’t lose the former Secretary of State the presidency, but it didn’t help her win it, either.

SNL should continue to make fun of Noem and Bondi, and every evil cartoon character orbiting in the Trumpverse. But when they do, the jokes need to be hard-thrown punches that don’t miss. Otherwise, you’re just giving Noem a screenshot of a better-looking version of her for her group chats.