'SNL' Makes Fun of Syracuse Native David Muir in Season 50 Premiere: Buzz

“Saturday Night Live” pokes fun at Syracuse native David Muir in its 50th season premiere.

The NBC comedy returned over the weekend with a cold, frank joke about Muir, played by “SNL” cast member Andrew Dismukes, after the ABC anchor “World News Tonight” covered the presidential debate between Vice President Kamala Harris (played by Maya Rudolph) and Former President Donald Trump (James Austin Johnson) moderated the event.

“For ABC News, I’m David Muir. And is it just me, or does it look kind of pretty here?” said Dismukes, playing Muir, frowning with a grin. “I was hoping that the debate I was moderating would be based on my striking good looks, but unfortunately the question was whether or not I was biased against the Democrats, which…phew.”

The Muir parody then attempted to show fairness by showing footage from both candidates' rallies, with Jim Gaffigan as Tim Walz, Andy Samberg as Harris' husband Doug Emhoff, Bowen Yang as JD Vance and Dana Carvey as President Joe Biden. Rudolph, Samberg and Carvey are all “Saturday Night Live” alumni and are returning as guest stars for the 2024 election season.

“A lot of people are going to forget that I’m president, myself included,” Carvey said as Biden. “We need to build back better. The structure, the better the better, the better the structure the better, I can’t believe it’s not butter.”

Dismukes' Muir appeared briefly between segments and said that Harris's campaign event “looked like a party” while Trump's event was “entering its third hour” and featured bulletproof glass in a nod to recent assassination attempts. When Yang's Vance character tried to talk about Project 2025, Dismukes' Muir said the Trump campaign asked her to omit and instead show Rudolph's Harris dancing to TLC.

Muir has not publicly commented on the skit. The real Trump has also taken aim at Muir's appearance since the debate, saying the ABC News star has “good hair, but not as good as it was five years ago.”

Muir, a former anchor and reporter at WTVH in Syracuse (now part of CNY Central), is a graduate of Onondaga Central High School and Ithaca College. He was the 2022 commencement speaker at Syracuse University and owns a home in Skaneateles.

Biden also has ties to Central New York. The president is a 1968 graduate of Syracuse University College of Law and married his first wife, Neilia Hunter, a native of Auburn, NY and homecoming queen of Syracuse University, in 1966. The couple lived on Stinard Avenue in Syracuse while Biden attended SU law school and she taught at the old Bellevue Heights School in the city.

Several actors have played Biden on “Saturday Night Live,” including Jim Carrey, James Austin Johnson, Jason Sudeikis and Mikey Day. Other highlights of Saturday's season premiere included host Jean Smart in an “I Love Lucy” sketch, Yang as baby hippo Moo Deng and Charli XCX, a “Spirit Halloween” gag and appearances by musical guest Jelly Roll.

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