SNL cast member Bowen Yang played JD Vance. In an interview with NBC News in April 2025, the Saturday Night Live star explained how he prepared for the role by hiring an accent coach whom he enjoyed working with.

“President Donald Trump” delivered the “good news” that people would be unable to see their families this Thanksgiving due to sweeping cuts to flight schedules caused by the government shutdown, during Saturday Night Live’s cold open. “People ...

I’m very much awake,” Trump, played by James Austin Johnson, said. “Now someone quickly tell me where am I, who am I and what year might it be.”