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SNL Parodies NYC Mayoral Debate as Trump Crashes Star-Studded Cold Open

The sketch distilled candidate caricatures to show how a local contest has drawn national attention days before voting.

Overview

  • Miles Teller played Andrew Cuomo, Ramy Youssef portrayed Zohran Mamdani, and Shane Gillis appeared as Curtis Sliwa in a mock NY1 debate moderated by Kenan Thompson’s Errol Louis.
  • James Austin Johnson’s President Trump interrupted to declare the race is about him, cracked a “Big Mac with a hole in the middle” bagel joke, and sang a snippet from The Phantom of the Opera.
  • The segment lampooned debate beats and personas, from Cuomo’s harassment scandal jokes to Mamdani’s TikTok‑style appeals and Sliwa’s outlandish New York war stories.
  • The cold open arrived two days before the Nov. 4 election, with recent coverage describing Mamdani as the polling frontrunner and noting heightened national focus on the race.
  • Audience reaction skewed positive on social media, though some viewers objected to yet another Trump cameo, and Teller’s monologue briefly noted losing his Palisades home to wildfires earlier this year.