Vice President Kamala Harris made an unannounced trip to New York to appear Saturday Night Livebriefly stepping away from the battleground states where he is campaigning, with just three days left before the election.
Harris departed on Air Force Two after a campaign stop on Saturday (November 2) in Charlotte, North Carolina. She was scheduled to head to Detroit, but once the plane was in the air, aides told her she was actually going to New York.
Her appearance on the show was confirmed by three people with knowledge of Harris' plans, who were not authorized to speak publicly about them. It's the final SNL episode before the election on Tuesday.
Actress Maya Rudolph first played Harris on the show in 2019 and reprized the role this season, doing an impression on the vice president, including calling herself “Momala.”
Rudolph opened the show's season premiere with, “Well, well, well. Look who fell from that coconut.” And he was joking about keeping President Joe Biden in his place.
Harris' husband, second-in-command Doug Emhoff, has been played by former cast member Andy Samberg, and Biden is played by Dana Carvey, who also famously played then-President George H.W. B. Bush in the early 1990s.
Rudolph's performance won critical and comedic acclaim — including from Harris herself.
“Maya Rudolph — I mean, she's so good,” Harris told ABC last month Thea. “She had everything, the suit, the jewelry, everything!”
Harris added that she was impressed with Rudolph's “manners.”
Trump senior adviser Jason Miller expressed surprise that Harris would appear Saturday Night Livegiven what she described as her unflattering performance on the show.
Asked if Trump had been invited to appear, he said: “I don't know. Probably not.”
Politicians have a long history SNLincluding Harris' Republican opponent, former President Donald Trump, who hosted the show in 2015.
Hillary Clinton was running for president in the 2008 Democratic primary when she appeared opposite Amy Poehler, who played her on the show and delivered her trademark over-the-top hack. The real Clinton wondered during her appearance, “Am I really laughing like that?”
Clinton returned in 2016 while running against Trump in a race she ultimately lost.
The first sitting president to appear Saturday Night Live it was Republican Gerald Ford, who did so less than a year after the show debuted. Ford appeared on April 17, 1976 and delivered the show's famous opening, “Live from New York.”
Barack Obama was still just a Democratic presidential candidate when he emerged in February 2008, and Republican Bob Dole emerged in 1996 — just 11 days after losing that year's election to Democrat Bill Clinton. Dole comforted Norm Macdonald, who played the Kansas senator on the show.
Then there was Tina Fey's 2008 impression of vice presidential candidate Sarah Palin — specifically her “I can see Russia from my house” joke. It was so good that Fey won an Emmy Award. Palin herself appeared on the show that season, in the weeks leading up to the election.
