Newly elected New York City Mayor Zohran Mamdani was nominated to appear on Saturday night live during his campaign, but Lorne Michaels died and a comedian played him in his place.
Sources said Page six that the Mamdani camp approached SNL about a possible appearance while he was still running for office. The former head of the program was not interested.
“Mamdani was approached, but ultimately, for creative reasons, they chose comedians,” a source said.
Ramy Youssef ended up playing the Democratic Socialist in a November 1, 2025 sketch centered on the New York mayoral debate, alongside Miles Teller as former New York Governor Andrew Cuomo and Shane Gillis as Republican candidate Curtis Sliwa.
Mamdani took it in good humor and posted clips of himself laughing with Youssef on FaceTime while the comedian was still in costume.
“Live from New York, I got burned,” she wrote on social media.
Sources say there were broader conversations about the possibility of Sliwa, Cuomo and Mamdani appearing on the show, though not necessarily together.
Mamdani has not been proposed for the show since his election, although his team could theoretically advocate for him as a musical guest, given his rap career in the early 2010s under the name Mr. Cardamom.
