Around 8 p.m. on Saturday night, outlets—including ours—began reporting that Kamala Harris was expected to make a “surprise” appearance on Saturday Night Live. Just a few hours later, the rumors turned out to be correct.
SNL’s cold open found Maya Rudolph’s Kamala Harris declaring that “this is it” as she soaked in the moment during her last Pennsylvania campaign stop. Feeling reflective, Rudolph’s Harris said how much she’d like “to talk to someone who’s been in my shoes, you know: a Black, South Asian woman running for president, preferably from the Bay Area.”
As she gazed into the mirror, the real Harris looked back at her and agreed. “You and me both, sister,” replied the current vice president while the audience went wild with nearly 30 seconds of nonstop applause—and both Rudolph and Harris broke into laughter.
The audience response was so enthusiastic, that Harris had to repeat the line. Then proceeded to assure (fake) Harris that “You’ve got this. Because you can do something your opponent cannot do: You can open doors.” It was a clever play on words that partly referenced Donald Trump’s recent stunt where he answered questions from the passenger side of a garbage truck, but struggled to open the door.
While Harris has been a very vocal supporter of Rudolph’s impression of her, she did take a moment to ask: “Do I really laugh like that?”
Ultimately, however, the message was one of peace and joy—with Rudolph and Harris declaring that the world is ready to “end the drama-la” (Harris’ words). Their mantra looking forward? “Keep Kamala and carry on-ala.”
Both Kamalas then came together to deliver the iconic line: “Live from New York, it’s Saturday Night.”
Harris is hardly the first politician to use SNL as an unofficial campaign stop. Hillary Clinton, Donald Trump, Barack Obama, and Sarah Palin have all made memorable appearances in the past. But only John McCain dropped by Studio 8H so close to the election: He made a cameo on November 1, 2008, just days before he and Palin faced off against Obama and Joe Biden.
That was joyous. Vote blue.
Most fun I’ve seen with a cold open in years — just ust heartwarming!! She’s truly funny and a good sport about all of this, too. What a clever and and approachable way to end the campaign!