‘SNL’ Recap: The Real Kamala Harris Gives Herself a Pep Talk
Vice President Kamala Harris made a surprise trip to Saturday Night Live just three days before the presidential election, appearing in the mirror of Maya Rudolph, who again reprised her role as the VP, this time giving herself a pep talk.
Saturday marked the fifth consecutive week of Rudolph portraying Harris during the show’s cold opens. On this occasion, she and husband Doug Emhoff (Andy Samberg) first tuned into a Trump rally, where the Republican candidate (James Austin Johnson) was exhausted and just saying whatever was coming to mind.
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“Where the hell am I? This place reeks!” he rambled on. “I don’t want to be here with you people. Come on. I’m out of gas. I’m running on fumes here, folks. You can see it, right? The cracks are showing. I’m exhausted. I’m babbling. I’m doing crazy things with the microphone.”
Rudolph turned off that scene, and then saw off one by one running mate Tim Walz (Jim Gaffigan), President Joe Biden (Dana Carvey), and the second gentleman. She then sat down, alone.
“I just wish I could talk to someone who’s been in my shoes, you know? A Black, south Asian woman running for president, preferably from the Bay area,” she said, turning to face the mirror–and Harris herself.
Raucous cheers and applause made Harris’ line hard to hear: “You and me both, sister!”
“I’m just here to remind you: you got this. Because you can do something your opponent cannot do. You can open doors,” Harris said, dinging Trump for having a hard time Wednesday opening the door of a garbage truck for a photo op.
After joining hands, the pair took turns reciting part of a pledge to “end the dramala,” and then stood up to face the audience.
“Let me tell you something,” Rudolph said. “I’m going to vote for us.”
When Harris asked if she happened to be registered in Pennsylvania, Rudolph said, “Unfortunately not.”
“Well,” Harris replied, “it was worth a shot.”
Harris covered a lot of ground Saturday. She began in Milwaukee, Wisconsin, where she called out Republican House Speaker Mike Johnson for saying his party would “probably” reveal the CHIPS and Science Act if given the means to do so following the election. Harris has similarly criticized his recent admission that the Affordable Care Act would be on the chopping block as well.
Rallies in Atlanta, Georgia and Charlotte, North Carolina followed. Harris was flying to Michigan ahead of a scheduled day of campaigning on Sunday when Air Force Two changed course for New York.
While major political party candidates like Trump, Hillary Clinton and Barack Obama have appeared on SNL, none did so as close to Election Day as Harris.
And for Harris’ ratings-obsessed, former reality television star opponent to see her beamed into the homes of millions while appearing on a show that’s filmed a short walk from Trump Tower, past behavior suggests Trump is bound to react negatively. After all, as president, he actually probed what the Federal Communications Commission and the Justice Department could do to stop the sketch show from satirizing him.
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