Vice President Kamala Harris made a surprise appearance on “Saturday Night Live” in the final days before the election, playing herself as the mirror-image double of Maya Rudolph’s version of her in the show’s cold open.
The first lines the candidate spoke as she sat across from Rudolph, their outfits identical, were drowned out by cheers from the audience.
“It is nice to see you Kamala,” Harris told Rudolph with a broad grin she kept throughout the sketch. “And I’m just here to remind you, you got this.”
In sync, the two said supporters need to “Keep Kamala and carry-on-ala,” declared that they share each other’s “belief in the promise of America,” and delivered the signature “Live from New York, it’s Saturday night!”
Harris made the surprise trip to New York City with just three nights to go before election day, arriving on Air Force Two after an early evening campaign stop in Charlotte, North Carolina. She was scheduled to head to Detroit, but once in the air, aides told the press of a previously unannounced stop, after which the plane landed at LaGuardia Airport.
The vice president arrived at the Saturday Night Live studio shortly after 8 pm, giving her enough time for a quick rehearsal before the show aired live at 11:30pm.
Harris departed immediately after the opening segment, telling reporters, “It was fun!” as she boarded Air Force Two for Michigan.
Host John Mulaney and musical guest Chappell Roan shifted the show away from politics. Neither addressed the election.
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Rudolph first played Harris on the show in 2019 and has reprised her role this season. Her performance has won the acclaim — including from Harris herself.
“Maya Rudolph — I mean, she’s so good,” Harris said last month on ABC’s “The View.” “She had the whole thing, the suit, the jewellery, everything!”
Jason Miller, a senior adviser to former president and Republican nominee Donald Trump, expressed surprise that Harris would appear on the show given what he characterised as an unflattering portrayal.
Asked if Trump had been invited to appear, he said: “I don’t know. Probably not.”
Rite of passage
There is a long history of US politicians appearing on Saturday Night Live, and Trump himself hosted the show in 2015 — but it is unusual for a candidate to appear so close to election day.
Hillary Clinton was running in the 2008 Democratic presidential primary when she appeared next to Amy Poehler, who played her on the show with an exaggerated cackle. The real Clinton wondered during her appearance, “Do I really laugh like that?”
Harris repeated that line in response to Rudolph’s portrayal of her laugh in Saturday’s episode. Trump and his allies have repeatedly mocked her laugh, with some falsely claiming she cannot control it because of a brain injury.
Clinton returned in 2016 while running against Bernie Sanders in that year’s primary, during which she was played by Kate McKinnon. After she lost to Trump, McKinnon performed a sombre in-character cover of Leonard Cohen’s “Hallelujah” in front of a silent studio audience.
Clinton’s running mate, Virginia Senator Tim Kaine, also made a surprise appearance last night, taking part in a gameshow sketch in which not even the host remembered him despite his having been on the 2016 ticket.
