“Saturday Night Live” has a new Joe Biden in James Austin Johnson

On Saturday, SNL debuted their new Joe Biden, which also happens to be their third Joe Biden in a year, behind Jim Carey and Alex Moffat. (And if we’re counting the last three years, you can add Woody Harrleson, Jason Sudeikis, and even John Mulaney to the list). Featured player James Austin Johnson played the President, which may be the first time a new cast member has been the first face we see in the season premiere since the show’s 1995 overhaul.

Johnson, whose impressions of Donald Trump have been well circulated on the internet, managed to get the soft-spoken cadence of Biden down. But even still, there was little that is memorable about the impression itself. Granted this was only the first time we saw him do it on the show, and it may take some more time for him to master it. But there’s definitely more room to play with it.

With Joe Biden, the challenge is not unlike that of Obama where you have to figure out which characteristics you need to heighten to make it funny. When you have someone like Donald Trump, most of the work is already done for you. With someone like Biden, save for the predictable targets about him being old or out of touch, it will take a little more time for the show to figure out just what to do with him. Case and point, this is only the second time we’ve seen him since he became President. Perhaps they need to take a cue from Dana Carvey’s more over-the-top impression of George Bush senior and take it in a similar direction where it feels like almost more of a new character than an impression of someone.