Utah received a mention in the opening of the season finale of “Saturday Night Live” — from comedian James Austin Johnson portraying President Donald Trump.
In the show’s “cold open” to start the show on Saturday, Johnson’s Trump is talking with the crown prince and prime minister of Saudi Arabia, Mohammed bin Salman (played by cast member Emil Wakim) — and demonstrating how well Trump is getting along with the authoritarian leader.
When Mohammed invites Trump to stay in Saudi Arabia for good, Johnson’s Trump says he has to get back to the United States.
“Luckily, we have our own little slice of Saudi Arabia in America, a dry desert area filled with people who are way too into their religion. We call ours Utah, and I do very well there,” Johnson’s Trump says. (On the video, the joke comes at about the 3:50 mark.)
It’s not the first time comparisons have been made between Utah and Saudi Arabia.
More seriously, in 2022, Princess Reema bint Bandar Al Saud, a member of the Saudi royal family and the country’s ambassador to the United States, visited Utah to discuss making connections with the state.
“We have a very similar footprint, as a nation that is desert-based. Utah has a very similar topography,” Reema told the Deseret News editorial board. “Your natural resources match ours, but your need to develop also matches ours.”
