CBS’s Stephen Colbert welcomed actor, comedian, and Saturday Night Live’s Zohran Mamdani impersonator Ramy Youssef to Thursday’s taping of The Late Show to discuss what it was like to play the New York City mayor on SNL. According to Youssef, the key to doing a good Mamdani impression is to smile at everything, something Colbert agreed with.
Colbert began by asking, “You played Zohran Mamdani a couple of months ago, back on SNL. What's the trick? What's the trick? What's your hook, I should rather say? What’s your hook for a good Mamdani.”
That cold open featured the mayoral debate between Mamdani, Andrew Cuomo, and Curtis Sliwa and was fairly sympathetic to Mamdani. Certainly, the regular SNL cast, as well as the daily comedy shows, would consider themselves to be fans.
As for Youssef, he replied, “Well, I would just watch him smile, no matter what he was saying. You know, no matter what was going on. Like, it was just everything, it could be the most serious thing, and he would have a smile and be incredibly serious and I thought, kind of, the way in and it was very fun.”
Colbert echoed the idea, “Wow, even things that shouldn't make you smile. He smiles when he says them.”
Stephen Colbert asks stand-up comic Ramy Youssef that the key to playing Zohran Mamdani on SNL was and Yousef says "Well, I would just watch him smile, no matter what he was saying. You know, no matter what was going on. Like, it was just everything, it could be the most serious… pic.twitter.com/4Ia34xxu0g
— Alex Christy (@alexchristy17) April 3, 2026
Youssef added, “Oh, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah. He’ll just, like, ‘ICE’—he’ll be like. ‘You're not allowed in the city.’ And he’s like, big beaming smile.”
Colbert then wondered about Mamdani’s reaction, “Do you know if he saw it?”
Yousseff reported that, “Yeah, he saw it. He saw it and he actually, like, we—he called me when I was still dressed as him, and he was really creeped out by it.”
While Yousseff claims the key to portraying the radical Mamdani is to smile at everything, SNL’s James Austin Johnson, who plays President Trump, has claimed that his impression has gotten “super dark," and that is a good summary of how SNL styles its characters. One is the “we tease because we love” kind of humor, and the other is the kind that is meant to serve the show’s larger agenda.
Here is a transcript for the April 2-taped show:
CBS The Late Show with Stephen Colbert
4/3/2026
12:26 AM ET
STEPHEN COLBERT: You played Zohran Mamdani a couple of months ago, back on SNL
RAMY YOUSSEF: Yeah.
COLBERT: Nice job.
YOUSSEF: Thank you.
COLBER: What's the trick? What's the trick? What's your hook, I should rather say? What’s your hook for a good Mamdani
YOUSSEF: Well, I would just watch him smile, no matter what he was saying. You know, no matter what was going on. Like, it was just everything, it could be the most serious thing, and he would have a smile and be incredibly serious and I thought, kind of, the way in and it was very fun. Yeah.
COLBERT: Wow, even things that shouldn't make you smile. He smiles when he says them.
YOUSSEF: Oh, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah. He’ll just, like, "ICE"—he’ll be like “You're not allowed in the city.” And he’s like, big beaming smile.
COLBERT: Do you know if he saw it?
YOUSSEF: Yeah, he saw it. He saw it and he actually, like, we—he called me when I was still dressed as him, and he was really creeped out by it.
COLBERT: How’d he get your number? Did he call Scorsese?
