Live from New York, it’s political controversy!

For a television series that is now on its forty third season, Saturday Night Live has weathered generations of politics.

When they first took to the air in 1975, the United States was well into Gerald Ford’s presidency. While he was prone to stirring trouble among the wider range of Americans, SNL decided to take a humorous approach.

As one of the first sketch comedy shows on the air, SNL took late night television by storm when they dared to tackle a previously taboo subject: a US president.

Watching old episodes of SNL, it’s clear they were just testing the political waters at first. Chevy Chase, (playing Gerald Ford,) would trip often and make clumsy mistakes. They’d mock the president’s notorious clumsiness as well as his mannerisms to the extreme.

All in good fun however, SNL always toed the line and never crossed it.

Throughout the years, presidents have come and gone through the White House. Just the same, they’ve gone through Studio 8H, the home film studio of SNL.

In recent time, SNL seems to have unlocked a goldmine for political comedy: the election of Donald Trump.

With Alec Baldwin playing the president, (down to the orange skin and flimsy wig) the past three seasons have been chock full of relentless teasing.

It is not only the president himself who has faced ridicule (much to his everlasting dismay – as is apparent by Twitter) but his entire cabinet and family as well.

Using over the top accents and frighteningly accurate speeches based on the ones given in real life, actors have portrayed the likes of Ivanka Trump, Melania Trump and even Sean Spicer.

It was the Sean Spicer skit (in which he was portrayed by Melissa Mccarthey) that quickly went viral.

It seems that SNL will continue its trend of mocking the political climate of the United States, no matter its state.

But one thing is certain: it’s nothing new.