NEW YORK — Vice President Kamala Harris made a shock look on “Saturday Night Live” within the closing days earlier than the election, enjoying herself as a mirror picture of Maya Rudolph’s model within the first half of the present.
The first strains uttered by the candidate as she sat reverse Rudolph, their garments had been equivalent, had been drowned out by the viewers’s applause.
“It’s good to see you Kamala,” Harris instructed Rudolph with a large smile that he maintained all through the sketch. “And I’m simply right here to remind you that you just perceive.”
In sync, the 2 mentioned supporters should “maintain Kamala and transfer ahead,” declared they shared mutual “perception within the promise of America” and delivered the signature “Live from New York, it is Saturday night!”
Harris made the shock journey to New York City with the election looming, briefly stepping away from the battleground states the place she campaigned furiously in favor of NBC’s iconic sketch comedy present, the place she hoped to generate buzz and entice a nationwide viewers.
Harris arrived in New York on Air Force Two after an early night cease Saturday in Charlotte, North Carolina. It was supposed to move to Detroit, however as soon as within the air, attendants mentioned it could make an unscheduled cease and the aircraft landed at LaGuardia Airport.
Harris arrived at 30 Rockefeller Plaza in Manhattan, the place “SNL” clocks in, simply after 8 p.m., sufficient time for a quick rehearsal earlier than the present airs stay at 11:30 p.m. It’s the final episode of “SNL” earlier than Election Day on Tuesday.
The go to had not been beforehand introduced, and an official accustomed to Harris’ planning solely formally confirmed it for reporters touring with the vice chairman moments earlier than the stay broadcast started. The official insisted on anonymity to debate the plans earlier than they had been made public.
Harris left instantly after the opening phase. He instructed reporters: “It was enjoyable!” as he boarded the aircraft to go away New York.
Host John Mulaney and musical visitor Chappell Roan took the present away from politics. Neither confronted the election.
Mulaney, the standup comic and former “SNL” author, hosted for the sixth time and talked about his kids with spouse Olivia Munn, Catholicism and his time in rehab.
Some anticipated Roan, the 26-year-old singer who has develop into a star in current months, to make a political assertion in her first look on the present. She has beforehand been sharply important of the Democratic Party and has refused to assist Harris, though Roan has mentioned a number of instances that she plans to vote for her.
But he performed it straight, or as straight because the wildly theatrical artist might. She sang her hit, “Pink Pony Club,” on an all-pink set bathed in pink mild.
Senator Tim Kaine additionally made a shock look, in a sport present sketch the place the gag was that nobody remembered him regardless of him being Hillary Clinton’s 2016 working mate.
“It’s been lower than eight years. What’s my title?” he mentioned, whereas the contestants remained silent and shocked.
Rudolph first performed Harris on the present in 2019 and reprized her function this season, doing an ideal impersonation of the vice chairman, even calling herself “Momala” — a reference to the affectionate nickname her stepchildren gave her.
Fellow former forged member Andy Samberg appeared once more Saturday evening as Harris’ husband, the second gentleman Doug Emhoff, comic Jim Gaffigan performed working mate Tim Walz and longtime alum Dana Carvey performed President Joe Biden once more.
Rudolph’s efficiency earned important and comedic acclaim, together with from Harris herself.
“Maya Rudolph — I imply, she’s so good,” Harris mentioned final month on ABC’s “The View.” “She had the whole lot, the costume, the jewellery, the whole lot!”
Jason Miller, a senior adviser to former President and Republican nominee Donald Trump, expressed shock that Harris would seem on “SNL” given what he referred to as her unflattering portrayal on the present. Asked whether or not Trump had been invited to look, he mentioned: “I do not know. Probably not.
Politicians have a protracted historical past on “SNL,” nevertheless, together with Trump, who hosted the present in 2015, though showing so near Election Day is uncommon.
Hillary Clinton was working within the 2008 Democratic presidential major when she appeared alongside Amy Poehler, who performed her on the present and was identified for letting out an exaggerated, trademark chortle. The actual Clinton requested herself throughout her look, “Do I actually chortle like that?”
Harris repeated that phrase in response to Rudolph’s depiction of his chortle in Saturday’s episode.
Clinton returned in 2016, as she ran towards Trump in a race she in the end misplaced.
The first sitting president to look on “SNL” was Republican Gerald Ford, who did so lower than a yr after the present debuted. Ford appeared in April 1976 on an episode hosted by his publicist, Ron Nessen, and declared the present’s well-known opening rejoinder, “Live from New York, it is Saturday evening.”
Then-Illinois Sen. Barack Obama appeared alongside Poehler impersonating Clinton in 2007, and Republican Bob Dole was on the present in November 1996 — simply 11 days after shedding that yr’s election to Bill Clinton. Dole consoled Norm Macdonald, who performed the senator from Kansas.
Then there was Tina Fey’s 2008 impression of vice-presidential candidate Sarah Palin — and particularly her line that “I can see Russia from my home.” It was so good that Fey ultimately received an Emmy, and Palin herself appeared on the present that October, within the weeks earlier than the election.
Long, Miller and Weissert reported from Washington. Associated Press writers Jill Colvin in New York and Andrew Dalton in Los Angeles contributed to this report.
