If one of your favorite parts of an election year is seeing who will play politicians on Saturday Night Live, raise your hand. Don’t be shy, it’s certainly mine. And I was thrilled to see that Lorne Michaels immediately secured Maya Rudolph for Season 50 to reprise her role as the current Vice President Kamala Harris. Now, given that she is a presidential nominee this time around, we expect Maya to get a lot more screen time. It's possible that someone could step in to play Harris' husband Doug Emhoff too, which he's quite excited about.
Given that Rudolph’s “Mamala” will be one of the main recurring characters in SNL's political sketches when it returns on the 2024 TV schedule, she may need to up her game. Esquire recently sat down with Harris’ husband Doug Emhoff, and they took the opportunity to ask him what the SNL alum could add to her impression, and his answer didn’t disappoint:
Yes, they need a good Doug character. So, I'm thinking Hugh Jackman, Ryan Reynolds, Chris Hemsworth, you know, people who look exactly like me [laughs].
I couldn’t agree more. Some of the late-night sketch comedy’s best presidential impressions over the years haven’t even been sitting presidents at all, like Amy Poehler as Hillary Clinton. While Martin Short has played Doug on the sketch comedy show before, I certainly think adding someone to play the Second Gentleman into this year's cast, even for a skit or two, would be a fantastic addition to the VP impression.
Both the entire clip and the comments section are worth checking out:
@esquire ♬ original sound - Esquire
Though Emhoff was making a joke about some of Hollywood’s hottest men portraying him on SNL, people online might take those choices seriously, as the internet has recently been thirsting over a photo of young Doug after it was posted by @onedankmom on X.
Of course, people took to the comments section of the TikTok video to share their own casting choices for the Second Gentleman, and here are some of the best ones in my opinion:
- George Clooney, hands down -@treetoo11
- Jeff Daniels! -@ejoyshelton
- I want Will Forte for doug! -@arianamadix
- Tbh Jason Segel would be great -@booomooo
The internet also had suggestions on who should play Kamala’s running mate, Governor of Minnesota Tim Walz, who will most certainly be written into sketches this fall. A fan favorite was Steve Martin, but he said no, so this topic, along with Emhoff's casting is still up for debate.
I would definitely be interested to see who Kamala thinks should play her husband on SNL. I bet the Loot star could just call her up and ask, given they’ve actually met before and discussed the impression. Oh, to be a fly on that wall!
That being said, I know Rudolph’s impression will be amazing regardless of her ensemble. I can’t wait to see how SNL incorporates all the Gen Z references the Harris campaign has been making, as well as who will play both Tim Walz and J.D. Vance. I wish the celebrated live late-night sketch show was back already, but we'll have to wait to watch it on NBC or with a Peacock subscription until September 28!
