NBC’s 51st season of Saturday Night Live is off to a rough start. Last week, they made fun of J.K. Rowling for daring to oppose the left on transgenderism. This week, cast member Sarah Sherman joined the Weekend Update segment to play the role of Rhonda LaCenzo, a paranoid and Islamophobic critic of New York City mayoral candidate Zohran Mamdani. Unsaid throughout the skit was that Sherman herself has campaigned for Mamdani.
Weekend Update co-anchor Michael Che played the role of the straight newsman, “Well, thanks for being here. I got to say, Rhonda, you have very panicked energy already.”
Not even a week after Mamdani, a man who has previously claimed he wants to globalize the Intifada, marked the second anniversary of October 7 by saying the real story is how horrible Israel is, Sherman’s character explained, “Oh, me? Why would I be panicked? Oh, I'm just thrilled that our city is about to be taken over by my favorite type of person, bum-bum-bum-a-bum, hooray, a hipster jihadist.”
After Che informed Sherman that her voting for Andrew Cuomo 48 times is illegal, Sherman continued, “You know what should be illegal, Che, all of Mamdani's socialist policies, free buses, huh? Rent freeze, universal child care? You know, I read that Mamdani himself said that he's going to act—enact Sharia Law in the city. Sharia Law. He can't do that, Che. I know Sharia. She's my nail tech, and she should not be a law. Coffee, Che.”
Ah yes, rent control, the policy of every economic illiterate ever.
However, Che still wondered, “No, and where are you reading this stuff?”
Sherman then continued portraying Mamdani’s critics as uneducated weirdos, “In The New York Times, Che. On their website in a comment for a recipe for a halloumi salad.”
A few moments later, it was Sherman who got weird as Che tried again, “That coffee smells a lot like gin. Rhonda, where are you getting your information?”
Sherman explained, “Zohran told me, he told me to my face in a sexual fantasy I had about him.”
After Che sought to clarify, “You had a sex dream about him?” Sherman continued, "And I've written it as a screenplay. We open on Tehran. We hear the Muslim call to prayer and out of a cloud of hookah smoke steps the TikTok Bolshevik himself. Zohran, he drops his towel revealing his big, girthy bus. And tonight, I'm riding it for free. Coffee, Che? Coffee, Che?"
If anyone’s having a sex dream about Mamdani, it would be Sherman in real life. Still, Che began his conclusion by declaring, “I just think some of what you're saying is pretty Islamophobic is all.
Sherman’s dumb character rejected the idea, “Islamaphobic, Che. How dare you. How dare you, Che. I'm not Islamophobic. Okay? I'm just scared of all Muslim people.”
After Che explained, “That’s what Islamophobic means,” Sherman relented, “Oh, then that is what I am, yes.”
Claiming that people are afraid of Mamdani because he may eliminate bus fares is so dishonest, one resents having to take it seriously, but the truth is Mamdani is a hard-left socialist who poses a grave threat to the city’s economy and has a history of anti-Semitism.
Here is a transcript for the October 11-12 show:
NBC Saturday Night Live
10/12/2025
12:19 AM ET
MICHAEL CHE: Well, thanks for being here. I got to say, Rhonda, you have very panicked energy already.
SARAH SHERMAN/RHONDA LACENZO: Oh, me? Why would I be panicked? Oh, I'm just thrilled that our city is about to be taken over by my favorite type of person, bum-bum-bum-a-bum, hooray, a hipster jihadist.
CHE: That's pretty strong words out the gate.
SHERMAN: Well, Che, he isn't even a real New Yorker, Che. He's from Uganda. Okay? I'm a real New Yorker, Che. I'm from Long Island, Che.
CHE: Long Island isn't in New York City. You can't even vote in this election.
SHERMAN: Well, really? Then, how come I voted for Cuomo in the primary 48 times, Che?
CHE: I don't know, but that's illegal.
SHERMAN: You know what should be illegal, Che, all of Mamdani's socialist policies, free buses, huh? Rent freeze, universal child care? You know, I read that Mamdani himself said that he's going to act — enact Sharia Law in the city. Sharia Law. He can't do that, Che. I know Sharia. She's my nail tech, and she should not be a law. Coffee, Che.
CHE: No, and where are you reading this stuff?
SHERMAN: In The New York Times, Che. On their website in a comment for a recipe for a halloumi salad.
CHE: That Sharia Law thing is not true, Rhonda, you know that?
SHERMAN: I'll tell you what is true, Che. Mamdani is an ISIS-trained Millennial nepo baby from Uganda. I mean, you got to be kidding me, Che.
CHE: Oh.
SHERMAN: Hey, Che. Hey, Che .You think Colin would do that joke for me in exchange for a pair of my panties? Coffee, Che?
CHE: No.
SHERMAN: Coffee, Che.
CHE: And that coffee smells a lot like gin. Rhonda, where are you getting your information?
SHERMAN: Zohran told me, he told me to my face in a sexual fantasy I had about him.
CHE: You had a sex dream about him?
SHERMAN: And I've written it as a screenplay. We open on Tehran. We hear the Muslim call to prayer and out of a cloud of hookah smoke steps the TikTok Bolshevik himself. Zohran, he drops his towel revealing his big, girthy bus. And tonight, I'm riding it for free. Coffee, Che? Coffee, Che?
CHE: No. Rhonda, I think I'm just confused. There's so much gin in there. I think, I'm just confused why you care. I mean, you don't live in New York City.
SHERMAN: Only because I can't afford it. No one can. Listen, Che, whether you like it or not, Long Islanders make New York City what it is. Okay? Without us, who would take calls on speakerphone during The Lion King? Okay? Without us, where would all the most violent cops live?
COLIN JOST: Staten Island.
CHE: Okay, Rhonda. I just think some of what you're saying is pretty Islamophobic is all.
SHERMAN: Islamaphobic, Che. How dare you. How dare you, Che. I'm not Islamophobic. Okay? I'm just scared of all Muslim people.
CHE: That’s what Islamophobic means.
SHERMAN: Oh, then that is what I am, yes.
