Overview

• Saturday Night Live's season 51 premiere opened with James Austin Johnson as President Trump warning the show about consequences for jokes at his expense.
• The cold open portrayed FCC Chair Brendan Carr, played by Mikey Day, as an “attack dog” keeping watch over the program.
• White House spokeswoman Abigail Jackson issued a curt response, saying she would not waste time watching the sketch.
• The segment referenced CBS ending Stephen Colbert’s Late Show in May 2026, which the network has said was a financial decision unrelated to the Paramount–Skydance deal.
• The routine also nodded to ABC pulling mmel LKimmel Live for a week before reinstating it, a move the president publicly celebrated.