Open thread: Who will Saturday Night Live choose to play Zohran Mamdani?

Mayor elect Zohran Mamdani waves to supporters after making his acceptance speech at an election nigh watch party, Tuesday, Nov. 4, 2025, in New York. (AP Photo/Yuki Iwamura)

Emil Wakim may have seemed like the obvious choice to play New York State Assemblyman and New York City Mayor-elect Zohran Mamdani on Saturday Night Live, but Lorne Michaels wanted to make room on the cast for more white guys, so Wakim got laid off from the show before the 51st season begun.

Though then again, the American-born comedian of Lebanese descent might be no more of a match for the Ugandan-born Muslim than any of the white men on the cast. And Marcello Hernández is still on the show. Having him play the mayor-elect might be a better use of his talent than Domingo or the Movie Guy who hasn’t seen any movies.

Bringing a guest star is also an option. Like Ramy Youssef, who played Mamdani in the cold open of last week’s episode.

Remember how Saturday Night Live kept bringing back Larry David to play Senator Bernie Sanders of Vermont in 2016? Maybe they’ll do that with Youssef.

Oh, but Donald Trump still has the title of president, so Saturday Night Live cast member James Austin Johnson will probably still have to put on the ridiculous comb-over and fake tan. Though hopefully it’ll be as funny as lampooning the construction of the Jeffrey E. Epstein Memorial Ballroom in last week’s episode with Miles Teller.

Saturday Night Live airs on NBC Saturdays at 11:30 p.m. Eastern, though tonight's episode might be delayed if the college football game has both teams using up all their timeouts. Nikki Glaser is slated to host with musical guest sombr.

UPDATE: So they sidestepped choosing anyone to play Mamdani by instead having James Austin Johnson as Trump mention Mamdani. But at least they made fun of Trump for his indifference to the pharmaceutical executive who collapsed right in front of him in the Oval Office.