Here's How "SNL" Mocked The 2025 Mayoral Debate With Zohran Mamdani and Andrew Cuomo

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Saturday Night Live poked fun at the final debate before New York City's 2025 mayoral election.

On Nov. 1, SNL was hosted by Miles Teller with musical guest Brandi Carlile, and the featured cast kicked off the season's return with a hilarious parody of NYC's mayoral candidates during the episode's cold open.

Miles was Andrew Cuomo, who ran for mayor as a Democrat but is now running as an Independent because he lost the primary.

Ramy Youssef portrayed Zohran Mamdani, the Democratic nominee.

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And Shane Gillis was a comedic version of the Republican nominee, Curtis Sliwa.

When Kenan Thompson, as moderator Errol Louis, asked, "Why would you want the worst job in the world?" the parodied candidates' answers left me speechless.

Miles as Cuomo said, "As we all know, as soon as you are elected mayor, everyone in the city immediately hates you. And in that way, I'm already one step ahead of the game."

Ramy as Mamdani promised voters free healthcare, Wi-Fi, and affordable housing before admitting, "As mayor, can I make that happen? I'm not sure yet. But together, we're going to find out — that the answer is no."

Then, just when things didn't seem ridiculous enough, James Austin Johnson's portrayal of President Donald Trump appeared.

The SNL cold open was another showcase of laugh-to-keep-yourself-from-crying satire, and a lot of people found the segment amusing.

One person said, "The guy they got for the trump impression is the most talented member they've had in a long while."

"No offence to SNL, the sketch is great, but the actual debate is even more humorous than this could ever be," another person said.

"Shane Gillis as Curtis Sliwa is somehow less crazy than Curtis Sliwa as Curtis Sliwa," one user wrote.

This user said the line about Trump taking a cognitive test "cracked me up."

"They could have just played the actual debate here and I wouldn't have been able to tell the difference tbh," another person wrote.

And finally, this person said what a lot of people were thinking. "The debate was so crazy it actually makes this skit not as crazy. I do love trump coming out to roast everyone though."

In my opinion, SNL's parody isn't too far off from the nonsense of the actual political theater we're experiencing in 2025. And with that, I'll drop one more scene from the cold open:

Watch the full cold open here: