Conservatives targeted overwhelmingly for ‘Saturday Night Live’s’ political jabs, analysis finds

A whopping 91% of "Saturday Night Live" jokes targeted conservatives this season, according to a new analysis by Media Research Center’s NewsBusters, and President Donald Trump has remained the show’s favorite punching bag.

According to the analysis, provided exclusively to The New York Post, "Weekend Update" delivered 205 jokes aimed at conservatives compared to just 18 targeting liberals and three nonpartisan jabs during the season’s first 19 episodes.

Trump alone accounted for more than 100 punchlines, nearly half of those assessed, while conservative figures dominated the show’s cold opens at a far higher rate than their left-leaning counterparts.

More specifically, 49 Republican-centered portrayals overshadowed the 10 Democratic-focused and one nonpartisan-focused portrayals identified in the analysis.

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Bowen Yang portrays JD Vance and James Austin Johnson plays Donald Trump during the "Campaign" cold open on Saturday Night Live on Sept. 28, 2024. (Will Heath/NBC/Getty Images)

Jokes taking aim at the president were made in tandem with more than a dozen Trump portrayals from James Austin Johnson during this season's cold opens, the Post wrote, followed in quantity by War Secretary Pete Hegseth, ex-Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem and White House Press Secretary Karoline Leavitt’s characters.

Fox News Digital reached out to NBC for comment but did not immediately hear back. 

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James Austin Johnson performs as President Donald Trump during the "Pete Hegseth" cold open on Saturday Night Live on Oct. 4, 2025. (Will Heath/NBC/Getty Images)

As far as "weekend Updates" jokes are concerned, Health and Human Services (HHS) Secretary Robert F. Kennedy, Jr. trailed the president at second, followed by Noem.

The Post highlighted how New York City Mayor Zohran Mamdani had only been targeted once by "Weekend Update," while tying the analysis to a broader critique of the anti-Trump sentiment of late-night television.

When reached for comment, NewsBusters managing editor Curtis Houck told Fox News Digital, "For liberals who might be fearful they won't be able to receive their far-left "comedy" fix once Stephen Colbert's 'Late Show' goes dark, look no further than 'SNL.'… Whether it's celebrity appearances or incendiary rhetoric masquerading as satire, 'SNL' will scratch that itch." 

Houck added, "These networks are largely unapologetic in the fact that they do not represent all Americans. It's about using their supposed power to bend the public to their worldview." 

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SNL anchors Colin Jost and Michael Che host Weekend Update on Saturday Night Live on Dec. 13, 2025. (Will Heath/NBC/Getty Images)

NewsBusters has called out the late-night comedy show with previous assessments of partisan leanings, including one article last October emphasizing that 82% of the prior season's jokes had targeted conservatives or Republicans.

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