SNL Season 52 premiere: Jalen Brunson mocks Stephen A. Smith, Trump-Mamdani chaos and Katseye performance- recap ahead

The American sketch comedy late-night series, SNL Season 52, is here. The premiere episode was released on September 26, 2026. It was hosted by New York Knicks star Jalen Brunson, and the musical guest for the night was KATSEYE. It was Brunson's first time hosting the sketch comedy series.

In the premiere episode of SNL Season 52, new cast members Saidah Belo-Osagie and Grace Reiter appeared. Previously, sportspersons hosting SNL received mixed reviews. For instance, Olympic freestyle skier Jonny Moseley failed to impress the audience.

SNL Season 52 kicked off with an entertaining cold open with the Trump-Mamdani sketch as the President says their bond is an unlikely animal friendship, further noting,

"Could be us, but you playin'."

From a sketch of President Donald Trump and Mayor Zohran Mamdani in the cold open to Brunson's monologue, here are some of the best moments you cannot miss from the premiere episode.

SNL Season 52 premiere recap: Mamdani Trump cold open

According to Gold Derby, SNL Season 52 opened with a sketch of President Donald Trump (James Austin Johnson) visiting his best friend, New York City Mayor Zohran Mamdani (Ramy Yousef). While the mayor was swamped with work, President Trump was interested in building a rapport with his favourite public official. Johnson's Trump further said,

"I just like hanging out with you, but like an unlikely animal friendship. Like when a tiger gets together with a baby goat, when I see stuff like that, I want to text it to you, saying this could be us, but you playin'."

Also, the viewers got a glimpse of the president's assistant, Natalie Harp, played by Ashley Padilla. Harp promised to end Mamdani if he hurt Trump. In the end, desperate to seek funding for a new housing project, Mayor Mamdani promised to follow Trump back on Instagram.

SNL Season 52: Brunson's opening monologue

Brunson's opening monologue in SNL Season 52 began with him promising to host the premiere the same way he played an NBA playoff game.

Brunson also had a note for his haters. He said the most satisfying thing about bringing the New York Knicks their first NBA championship since 1973 was proving all his haters wrong, especially the ESPN commentator Stephen A. Smith, portrayed by Kenan Thompson. Thompson's Stephen A. Smith appeared on the show to apologize to Brunson.

Brunson took questions from the audience. His teammates Karl-Anthony Towns, Mikal Bridges, Josh Hart, and OG Anunoby were part of the audience who asked Brunson some hard-hitting questions about the game.

SNL Season 52 premiere recap: Office MVP

According to Gold Derby, Brunson made fun of his basketball skills as Darius, an office employee who struggled to throw a fast-food wrapper in the dustbin. His co-workers (Sarah Sherman, Ben Marshall, and Mikey Day) were clearly not impressed with Darius' skills. In the end, the viewers came to know that Darius is actually Brunson. It turned out he had always dreamt of working a menial job, yet couldn't let go of his dreams of basketball. In the end, Brunson finally scored, similar to what he does in NBA games.

Brunson's High School Musical

In the premiere episode, Brunson appeared as a high school student. He played a nerdy student who showed up at the high school gym in hopes of joining the basketball team. However, no one was interested in picking him for the team except for Jeremy Culhane.

When given an opportunity, it turned out that Brunson was good at balling, and it turned out to be a problem for poor Culhane. In the end, Culhane decided to give up on basketball and audition for the high school musical, where his girlfriend, Veronika Slowikowska, is also present. Unfortunately, Brunson turned out to be a good singer too and stole Culhane's girlfriend with a love song.

KATSEYE performance

According to Entertainment Weekly, KATSEYE, the musical guest for the premiere episode of SNL Season 52, performed their second single, 'Animal' from the group's third EP, Wild.

A weekend update

Tucker Carlson, played by Jeremy Culhane, got to the Weekend Update desk to talk about the summer box office hits. He called Spider-Man: Brand New Day "Brand New Gender". Culhane's Carlson also spewed some harsh comments about the hit film, Obsession.

Elsewhere, Colin Jost and Michael Che discussed the Donald Trump and Xi Jinping summit in Washington, Benjamin Netanyahu and Trump TV. Meanwhile, Anthropic boss Dario Amodei, played by Wickline, reassured that AI will not kill us all (via Entertainment Weekly).

In the next episodes of SNL Season 52, Dakota Johnson, Shane Gillis, and Inde Navarrette will host the late-night comedy sketch series.