NEW YORK –
Dwell from New York, it’s a presidential candidate scrounging for each vote within the ultimate days earlier than the election.
U.S. Vice-President Kamala Harris made a shock journey to New York Metropolis on Saturday to look on “Saturday Night time Dwell,” briefly stepping away from the battleground states the place she’s been furiously campaigning in favor of the enduring sketch comedy present.
Harris departed on Air Drive Two after an early night marketing campaign cease on in Charlotte, N.C. She was scheduled to move to Detroit, however as soon as within the air, aides mentioned she’d be making an unscheduled cease and the aircraft landed at LaGuardia Airport in Queens.
Harris arrived at 30 Rockefeller Plaza in Manhattan, the place SNL tapes, shortly after 8 p.m., sufficient time for a fast rehearsal earlier than the present airs dwell at 11:30 p.m. It’s the ultimate SNL episode earlier than Election Day on Tuesday.
Neither the White Home nor her marketing campaign have confirmed her look on the present, however it was confirmed by three individuals accustomed to Harris’ plans who weren’t approved to talk publicly about them.
Actor Maya Rudolph first performed Harris on the present in 2019 and has reprised her position this season, doing a spot-on impression of the vice-president, together with calling herself “Momala.”
Rudolph opened the present’s season premiere with the road: “Effectively, effectively, effectively. Look who fell out of that coconut tree.” And she or he’s joked about maintaining President Joe Biden in his place.
Harris’ husband, second gentleman Doug Emhoff, has been performed by former forged member Andy Samberg and Biden is performed by Dana Carvey, who additionally famously performed then-President George H.W. Bush within the early Nineties.
Rudolph’s efficiency has gained essential and comedic acclaim — together with from Harris herself.
Democratic presidential nominee Vice-President Kamala Harris speaks throughout a marketing campaign rally, Saturday, Nov. 2, 2024, on the PNC Music Pavilion in Charlotte, N.C. (Mike Stewart/AP Photograph)
“Maya Rudolph — I imply, she’s so good,” Harris mentioned final month on ABC’s “The View.” “She had the entire thing, the swimsuit, the jewellery, the whole lot!”
Harris added that she was impressed with Rudolph’s “mannerisms.”
Jason Miller, a senior adviser to former president and Republican nominee Donald Trump, expressed shock that Harris would seem on SNL given what he characterised as her unflattering portrayal on the present. Requested if Trump had been invited to look, he mentioned: “I don’t know. Most likely not.”
Politicians nonetheless have a protracted historical past on SNL, together with Trump, who hosted the present in 2015 — although showing so near Election Day is uncommon.
Hillary Clinton was working within the 2008 Democratic presidential major when she appeared subsequent to Amy Poehler, who performed her on the present and was identified for launching right into a trademark, exaggerated cackle. The true Clinton puzzled throughout her look, “Do I actually snigger like that?”
Clinton returned in 2016, whereas working in opposition to Trump in a race she finally misplaced.
The primary sitting president to look on SNL was Republican Gerald Ford, who did so lower than a 12 months after the present debuted. Ford appeared in April 1976 on an episode hosted by his press secretary, Ron Nessen, and declared the present’s well-known opening rejoinder, “Dwell from New York, it is Saturday Night time.”
Then-Illinois Sen. Barack Obama appeared alongside Poehler impersonating Clinton in 2007, and Republican Bob Dole was on the present in November 1996 — a mere 11 days after shedding that 12 months’s election to Invoice Clinton. Dole consoled Norm Macdonald, who performed the Kansas senator.
Then there was Tina Fey’s 2008 impression of vice-presidential candidate Sarah Palin — and specifically her joke that “I can see Russia from my home.” It was so good that Fey finally gained an Emmy and Palin herself appeared on the present that October, within the weeks earlier than the election.
Lengthy, Miller and Weissert reported from Washington. Related Press author Jill Colvin contributed to this report
