Every Saturday Night Live cast needs a good impressionist, and James Austin Johnson is very, very good. Even before joining the cast in 2021, he was virally famous for his uncanny Donald Trump, but more recently heâs added an uncanny Joe Biden to his arsenal. Part of what makes Johnson so fun to watch is that heâs obviously driven by his passionsâyou can tell his Bob Dylan, for instance, is a labor of love.
In a wide-ranging interview, conducted as part of the reporting process for the GQ feature âSaturday Night Forever,â Johnson told us about taking a 23-hour train ride home from his audition, celebrating with âdry-ass cookie cake,â and got supremely philosophical about what makes his all-time favorite cast so great.
James Austin Johnson: Oh, you did? Did I show up?
You did, yes! You were there.
I was like, This is an easy cut. But man, that was the best movie experience I’ve had. That was just very special. I got two full days on that set, and we shot that whole scene front to back like 400 times. It was awesome.
So, on to SNL. Who was your favorite cast member when you started watching the show?
I started watching probably â99, 2000. And I think Jimmy Fallon was my favorite at that moment in history, but just a couple years later, Fred Armisen showed up, and Fred Armisen kind of became the GOAT for me. So I would have to say it’s a combo because it was sort of [the] end of Jimmy Fallon era, beginning of Fred’s 11-year crazy career.
In your time there so far, what’s been your favorite sketch you’ve been in?
Man, it’s really hard to say. Thereâs Trump stuff that happens, which is sort of its own beast, because I don’t have a lot of characters that I’ve done 20 times. So I could think about a separate Trump one, maybe the one where he interrupts the Last Supper. I love âI Watch From the Corner,â the one with R&B parents, but I talk about that one a lot. So I’m going to say the one where Andrew [Dismukes] and I are guys pitching a jingle to some lawyers. Yeah. âJingle Pitch.â
How about the best sketch that you’ve worked on that didn’t make it to the air?
I have spoken about this before, but since you asked about Bob Dylan, I’ll go ahead and talk about the first time I did Bob Dylan because, well, it wasn’t the first time I did Bob Dylan. I have pitched a Bob Dylan bit once or twice a season since I’ve been there, and then they’ve just never gone for it. But Andrew and I wrote one where we were Bob Dylan and Bruce Springsteen at the recording of âWe Are the World.â I don’t know if you’ve seen that documentary, but Bob is really having an off night. And so the whole sketch is, it’s the recording of the chorus where all the stars are up in the risers singing âWe Are the World.â And you know how Bob looks really confused in that sea of faces? So it’s Bob and Bruce Springsteen chatting under their breath during the verses.
[Doing impressions of both Bob and Bruce] âHey, did you get your sandwich yet, Boss?â âNo, I didn’t get my sandwich yet.â So it was a sketch about how there had been an intern with a clipboard who came by and got a bunch of sandwich orders for all the stars. And Bob’s sandwich is taking a little while, and I’m just so hungry. Bruce Springsteen is like, âOh, don’t look now. Looks like Daryl Hall just got his meatball sub.â And it cuts to Chloe Troast as Daryl Hall getting ready to start munching on a meatball sub. And I’m like, âWhat? I can’t believe they would forget Bob Dylanâs sandwich.â So it reaches a pitch of Bob’s frustration.
Then we have to sing the chorus, and then it goes back into the vamping, and it’s just us. It’s me complaining to Bruce Springsteen and Bruce Springsteen pointing out different stars and their sandwiches. âOh, look, there’s Cyndi Lauper! She just got her veggie delight.â Josh Brolin was Willie Nelson. It was very special, and it did really well at the table. But I think the music licensing for the song was really difficult. Like Lionel Richie, Stevie Wonder, and Michael Jackson wrote it. So that song is probably very pricey to license. And there was no way we were going to write a fictional version of it.
I didn’t do David Fricke at the audition. That is really my answer for Best Sketch that I’ve worked on that’s never gone to air. But I did do 17 different people at my audition. I did Jeffrey Tambor, Michael Rapaport, Bobby Flay, Anohni and the Johnsons. I did Donald Trump. Lindsey Graham. I did a character I do called the Sweet Southern Guy who was in the Trench Coat Mafia. Louis CK. I basically just did all of my best impressions. I just went in, because I was like, âOkay, I don’t think they really have an impressions man at the moment. So I better stake that territory as the impressions man.â Even though I just consider myself sort of a general comedian, I like doing impressions, but I wouldn’t self-describe as an impressionist necessarily. I’m happy when others do because it shows great faith in what I do.
