What We Know About Trump Impersonator And New SNL Star James Austin Johnson
Ahead of the premiere of its 47th season, the long-running comedy sketch show "Saturday Night Live" has announced that three brand new comedians and actors will be joining its cast. According to Entertainment Weekly, these brand new cast members are Aristotle Athari, Sarah Sherman, and James Austin Johnson. They will be joining a cast that includes comedy heavyweights like Aidy Bryant, Pete Davidson, Kate McKinnon, Ego Nwodim, Cecily Strong, Kenan Thompson, Bowen Yang, and more.
Though he might be a newcomer to "SNL," Johnson has become a successful comedian and actor in his own right over the past few years. Since former president Donald Trump took office in 2016, Johnson has been impressing millions of fans with his spot-on impressions of the controversial leader. His front-facing camera rants about pop culture topics like "Scooby-Doo" and "Sex and the City" from Trump's perspective have become an instant hit. Back in 2020, Vanity Fair called him the "best Trump impersonator of all."
Previously, Alec Baldwin was thought to be the best Trump impersonator (he even won an Emmy in 2017 for his Trump impression on "SNL"), but the actor actually admitted that he detested doing the impression. During an interview with Deadline in 2019, Baldwin said that at times when he was doing the Trump impression, he would "hope a meteor hits this building and it kills me."
Johnson is more than just a Trump impersonator
Unlike Alec Baldwin, James Austin Johnson's Trump impressions do not show the political figure's real political leanings or feature his real-life quotes. Instead, Johnson's impressions are not rehearsed and cover pop culture topics and present opinions that the comedian really has about topics like Pokemon, according to The Hill. "Even though I'm a comedian that does voices in his act all the time, I think that the rambling, frustrated complaining is as much a way to sound like the president as physically distorting my voice to sound like him," Johnson told Mashable in 2020.
Johnson is more than just a Trump impersonator, though. According to his personal website, Johnson has appeared in "Hail, Caesar," "Better Call Saul," and "Future Man." He has also performed on the Comedy Central show, "Robbie." He first began doing stand-up as a teenager in Nashville, Tennessee, and will surely perfect his craft as the newest "Saturday Night Live" cast member. Fans will be able to catch their first glimpse of Johnson on "Saturday Night Live" on October 2, 2021.