For nearly 50 years, NBC’s “Saturday Night Live” has been giving viewers a weekly dose of political satire — who can forget Dana Carvey’s “wouldn’t be prudent” impersonations of the ever-so-cautious former President George H.W. Bush? Or Phil Hartman, tearing through McDonald’s, eating customers’ meals as former President Bill Clinton?
And while Boston Globe columnist Don Aucoin said the show’s current President Trump impersonator James Austin Johnson may be the most talented of them all, he said the actor continues to treat Trump as silly — “a kind dotty uncle”— instead of the polarizing figure who called actor-director Rob Reiner “deranged” days after he was killed, and ordered nationwide immigration crackdowns.
Aucoin joins host Robin Young to talk about the role of satire during difficult political times, and how prior “Saturday Night Live” presidential impersonators have handled their challenging roles.
This article was originally published on WBUR.org.
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