Yep…’SNL’ Creates Joke About South Dakota Governor Kristi Noem
When it comes to politics or anything controversial, Saturday Night Live never backs away from these topics. In fact, the hit late-night comedy show thrives on them. Poking fun at political leaders specifically is the show’s specialty.
During the season 48 premiere of Saturday Night Live, the show opened with its rendition of "The Monday Night Football ManningCast" featuring guest host Miles Teller and SNL's Andrew Dismukes. Miles and Andrew were playing Peyton and Eli Manning during a ManningCast. Instead of doing play-by-play for a Monday Night Football game, they give their analysis on the cold open of Saturday Night Live. The opening scene is set in...the Mar-a-Lago Club in Florida.
Former President Donald Trump was being played by SNL's James Austin Johnson. Trump was welcoming some guests to his Mar-a-Lago estate during Hurricane Ian. His first guest? South Dakota Governor Kristi Noem.
Miles Teller and SNL's Andrew Dismukes were joking that a lot of Saturday Night Live cast changes were made over the summer break. They pointed out that veteran cast members played more of the recognizable roles including politicians. Why have South Dakota Governor Kristi Noem in this sketch? Honestly, it doesn't really make sense why Saturday Night Live writers would include her in this scene. The joke wasn’t even all that great either. My guess is they wrote Governor Noem into this sketch because of her close relationship with former President Trump.
SNL's Heidi Gardner had the opportunity to portray Governor Noem. To Heidi's credit, she does look somewhat like Governor Noem. She appears as Governor Noem within the first two minutes of the opening sketch.
Hello, I'm Governor Kristi Noem and I (in a vampire voice) want to take your abortion rights.
This is how Miles Teller as Peyton Manning and Andrew Dismukes as Eli Manning responded:
Okay...timeout. What the hell was that?
The Governor of South Dakota, a political impression that
no one asked for. What about a fun impression like Anthony Fauci or Lindsey Graham or Rudy Giuliani?
Those were all Kate Mckinnon.
Damn...
The sketch went on with Heidi Gardner for a few seconds after the comments from Miles Teller and Andrew Dismukes
Some viewers might be a little disappointed at Saturday Night Live's view of South Dakota Governor Noem. The way I see it, if you're even included in this legendary show or any late-night talk show, you've truly made it. It's a strange accomplishment to achieve, but it creates good memories and maybe even a lot of laughs.