SEE IT: ‘SNL’ debuts NYC Mayor Adams, played by Chris Redd, to brag about swagger
Barely two weeks into his term, New York City Mayor Adams hit “Saturday Night Live.” Well, a version of him, at least.
Played by Chris Redd, “SNL’s” version of the new mayor simply couldn’t stop talking about his swagger, much like the real one.
“New York is back, baby. The city’s never had a mayor with so much swagger before,” the heavily accented fake mayor told reporters at a press conference. “I mean, y’all see me outside — the peacoats, the scarfs, the shine on the bald head, yo. You can tell I have swagger. Keeps me healthy. See, the city’s been suffering from what I like to call a swag-less existence.”
Adams’ swagger, he promised, is even what’s kept him healthy.
“I haven’t been sick in over 60 years,” the 61-year-old politician bragged. “I’m muscular, I’m vegan and I get that thang-thang every day before breakfast.”
Almost immediately after opening the floor to questions, Adams backtracked, threatening the reporters that he does “not do chaos.”
“I was a police officer for over 70 years,” he said. “If I get startled I start kicking people’s a--es.”
That’s when his press secretary, played by host and “West Side Story” star Ariana DeBose, stepped in, to assure everyone that former mayor Bill de Blasio is no longer at the lectern.
“He will kick your a--,” she vowed.
Asked about his resolution to keep schools open amid skyrocketing omicron cases, the fake Adams insisted that students need to be in class “to learn about life,” rather than from their “swagless parents.”
“As a mayor that is so saucy, just dripping in swagu, it hurts my heart,” he said. “It’s dangerous to have your kids out there with no swag.”
Adams was also asked about his comments about low-skilled workers not being able to work in an office, which he said was taken out of context.
“By unskilled workers, I meant folks with trash jobs. I mean trash lives. No wait, what I mean is if you were better at life, you would have a desk,” he said. “We in a society, OK? And there are kings and queens and then there are everybody else below that, the dirty people.
“I don’t like the way you’re making me feel right now. I was a cop for 97 years. Do you understand me? Show me some respect.”
After a run of crude jokes about JFK and making 28-year-old rapper Saweetie his Marilyn Monroe, Adams closed out his press conference with a reassuring message to New Yorkers.
“Y’all are in good, Black, Paul Bunyan hands. We’re going to beat this virus together. I believe that. And you know what rhymes with cough? Tough,” he said. “I mean, it doesn’t, but it should. And New York is tough as hell. I dare COVID to run up on me. Come to Brooklyn, bruh. I’ll leave the light on for you, dog. COVID is welcome anytime in New York and you can print that.”
On Twitter Sunday morning, the real mayor gave Redd props for his impression, but called him out for forgetting Adams’ infamous earring.
Saturday’s New York-centric episode, which also featured musical guest Jack Antonoff and his band Bleachers, included another COVID-19 sketch about the Nets beating the Kings 268-1 at halftime after the entire Sacramento team ends up in health and safety protocols and a “Weekend Update” joke about late convicted killer Robert Durst becoming “New York’s fourth-worst real estate heir” behind former president Donald Trump’s three children.
