No Kings. Not Ever.

The nationwide No Kings rally, a 50-state protest against the sitting president’s policies and, let’s face it, competency, demeanor and open disdain of freedom of speech and democracy, on Saturday became the single largest non-violent protest in AMERICAN HISTORY.

Yeah, that’s right.

Evah.

Good Job Team GIFs | Tenor
Good job everyone!

More than 8 million people lined the streets of big cities, suburbs and small town rural areas in solidarity in order to fight for a democracy they, nee I, believe is being chipped away by a dangerously clownish old guy in pancake makeup who publicly, and embarrassingly, drones on and on about golden tractors and the majesty of a marble ballroom while privately invading countries, assembling a personal oligarchy, replete with a Brown-shirtish enforcement squad, as he grifts his way through personally beneficial financial transactions the likes of which the White House has never seen.

Don’t believe me on the latter? 

Here’s some oligarchical grifting data with an accompanying list you can download in a document.

And we’re not amused

Of course, none of these actions are particularly surprising for anyone who has been paying attention, like all of us.

Instead, it’s mortifying.

As are the official statements of this White House to that great American tradition of protest, and the No Kings rally in particular.

WH spokesperson Abigail Jackson chalked it/them up to leftist funding networks, with little support from real American citizens.

The only people who care about these Trump Derangement Therapy Sessions are the reporters who are paid to cover them.

While a chief spokesman for the National Republican Congressional Committee, Maureen O’Toole, proclaimed:

These Hate America Rallies are where the far-left’s most violent, deranged fantasies get a microphone.

Steam Community :: Guide :: that's not what they really said...
A real charmer

As someone who spent his pre-teen and early teen years living through the turbulent 1960s and early 1970s, this kind of talk sounds vaguely familiar. 

It took a lot of deaths from an undeclared war and a lot of investigative reporting to expose the level of corruption that was really going on from the Oval Office on down, but eventually we got there.

And what led the way?

Peaceful, non-violent protests from protestors who were labeled un-American and deranged by the very people in power committing the corruption, along with the throngs of those enabling them.

50,000 (at least) in Minnesota

In other words, large swaths of ordinary American citizens nationwide.  In each state.

Everywhere.

Here are some links to what’s been happening. With lots of photos and information.

PBS Newshour Coverage

NPR Coverage

ABC – LA Coverage

BBC Coverage

Politico Coverage

DRIGGS, IDAHO - MARCH 28: Protesters hold signs and chant slogans while attending a "No Kings" protest on March 28, 2026 in Driggs, Idaho. This is the third nationwide "No Kings" protest held against the Trump administration. (Photo by Natalie Behring/Getty Images)
If they can do it in Driggs, Idaho, we can too!

Stay tuned.

And keep hope alive.

As well as yourself.

Bruce Springsteen – “Streets of Minneapolis” (Live from the No Kings Rally in St Paul 3/28/26)

SNL’s Golden Year

Saturday marked the first episode of SNL’s 50TH anniversary season with guest host Jean Smart, a recent Emmy winner for playing another, albeit fictional, comedy stalwart of 50 years, Hacks stand-up, Debra Vance.

Was the combination fun?  Yes. 

Did it have some rough spots?  A few.  Sure.

Never need to see this monkey again

But were there any real memorable moments?  Of course!

Can you say —

Maya/Kamala???? 

with Andy as Doug??? Yes, please!

Or —

Ms. Smart as: a romance writer reading salacious excerpts from her new math textbook; a too dramatic actress cast prior to Lucille Ball in faux clips from a very different I Love Lucy; a Real Housewife in Santa Fe trading bitchy bon mots in a Mexican restaurant  ….all of which followed her sweet comic opening monologue to the tune of I Happen To Like New York?

But first…

Let’s get a few things straight. 

So to speak.

Go off, Chair.

No, the Chair will not be writing about Saturday Night Live ad infinitum/for the rest of eternity despite the way it’s looked for the last 3 weeks. 

Think of this as the final (Note:  Well, maybe for a while) shameless self-promotion of his just published book, The SNL Companion: An Unofficial Guide to the Seasons, Sketches and Stars of Saturday Night Live.

Click here to purchase! #shamelessbutIdontcare

Yes, it’s available from Amazon in paperback or on Kindle  at a discounted price – and it will make a GREAT holiday gift/stocking stuffer/Halloween favor or Thanksgiving something.

And if you want to get a free preview of what it’s about, here’s a link to a short interview on NPR’s Here and Now segment with my co-author/husband Stephen Tropiano that aired this weekend in honor of the #50.

Yes, they could only have on one of us (Note:  Cause it’s radio?) and I was more than pleased to be Doug Emhoff since, well, I’m the Jewish one and, well, who wouldn’t be?

Ahem.

Worth posting again because it was so good!

In any event, SNL’s return….

It was solid and had a great political opening with some fun guest cameos.  We’ve seen Maya Rudolph’s Kamala but there was something about watching her at the podium center stage.

The swagger. 

The joy.

The hope that she gets to do it a bunch of times for the next FOUR/EIGHT seasons.

The dream team

Not to mention Jim Gaffigan as Coach Walz (Note: Why didn’t I have his name in the pool?), Andy Samberg (Note: He’s Jewish, too) debuting in Studio 8H as Doug; James Austin Johnson returning as an endless loop of Trump; Bowen Yang as a decent but strange choice for Vance; and much-missed Dana Carvey doing a fairly on-target but slightly too beleaguered (Note: Was it the writing or him?) Joe Biden.

Sometimes when there is soooo much real-life political material to choose from it makes the task all that more difficult for SNL.   But as Weekend Update anchor Colin Jost cracked from behind his fake anchor desk when he recalled that more than one person over the last 3-4 months asked him if he regretted not being on the air with all of the political upheaval:

I have a feeling there’s going to be more that happens when we get back.

We are all too familiar with these dumpster fires

The emergence of cable news and faux cable news shows in the 1990s, combined with the power of  incessant and omni-present social media platforms with streams of creativity and craziness, has created a perfect storm of fame for all sorts of characters and borderline sociopathic behavior.

It might not be great for the world but it sure does help provide SNL and shows like it tons of opportunity to land a laugh in the oddest of ways. For example, it’s rare for a Weekend Update segment to in one moment have a set piece where we have commentary from the beleaguered 10-week old world famous baby Chinese hippo Moo Deng (Note: A hilariously costumed Bowen Yang) after just moments before hearing Jost remark that TikTok voters are using AI to translate Hitler speeches into English, whereupon he plays an actual short clip from a real post that shows the real Hitler ranting but has us hearing the actual debate voice of Trump claiming (about Haitians):

They’re eating the dogs, they’re eating the cats.

Watch all of Weekend Update here

You may ask: How do I know that was an actual video from TikTok??

And I would answer:  Because I saw it myself on Twitter/X last week.

And of course I’m embarrassed to still be in the cesspool that is Twitter/X.  But please know I have not given Elon any money for my own verified check mark.  Just as I have no plan to buy into Trump crypto. 

Or any crypto.

I mean, why??????

I’m giving my money to whatever this is

But I do look forward to watching John Mulaney, Ariana Grande and Michael Keaton hosting SNL in the coming weeks of 2024. 

For free.

And not cuz I just wrote a book about the show.

Jelly Roll – “Winning Streak (Live on SNL)”