At the tail end of an arduous, hotly contested presidential election campaign, Vice President Kamala Harris managed to have the last laugh. On “Saturday Night Live,” that is.
Appearing in the episode’s cold open as the mirror image of Maya Rudolph’s Kamala Harris, the Democratic nominee reassured herself that “You can do something your opponent cannot do: You can open doors.”
The sketch, which focused on dueling rallies by Harris and former President Trump (James Austin Johnson), offered a comic compendium of recent events from the trail, with references to Trump’s appearance driving a garbage truck and President Biden’s unfortunate tendency to “riff” in front of reporters.
After conferring with Biden, running mate Tim Walz (Jim Gaffigan) and husband Doug Emhoff (Andy Samberg) backstage, the vice president asked for a moment alone. “I wish I could talk to someone who’s been been in my shoes,” Rudolph’s character said, before turning to her reflection at the vanity. The real Harris, emerging to an extended ovation for the live studio audience, replied in kind: “You and me both, sista.”
During the exchange at the mirror with Rudolph, Harris also promised to “end the dramala” of the campaign and “keep Kamala and carry on-ala.”
Coming out from behind the mirror to stand side by side with Rudolph — and receiving yet another cheer from the audience — Harris made another joke, asking her counterpart if she were registered in the swing state of Pennsylvania, before the pair delivered the show’s most famous line in unison: “Live from New York, it’s Saturday night!”
With her surprise visit Saturday to New York’s 30 Rockefeller Plaza, Harris joined her Republican opponent Donald Trump, Hillary Clinton, Barack Obama and numerous other White House hopefuls who have appeared on the long-running sketch comedy.
News of the guest spot broke shortly before 5 p.m. PT when Harris added an unannounced stop to her schedule, which was reportedly announced to the press pool while in flight on Air Force Two. She had previously been expected to travel between swing-state campaign events in North Carolina and Michigan.