Presidential campaign season is heating up just as Saturday Night Live is on the verge of returning to NBC in the 2024 TV schedule, which means one thing: political spoofs are coming to Saturday nights. Maya Rudolph is returning to her old sketch comedy stomping grounds this fall to reprise her impersonation of Vice President Kamala Harris. As soon as Harris was announced as the Democratic nominee for POTUS, the buzz online was that Rudolph would be back to play her again. The SNL alum has since opened up about everybody else deciding that she'd do it before she even agreed.
It didn't take long after news broke that Kamala Harris would be the Democratic candidate for President of the United States rather than Joe Biden for people to start assuming that Rudolph would have a key part to play in SNL's milestone 50th season. And why not? She'd won an Emmy for the role back in 2020, when Harris was running as Biden's Vice President. For the actress, however, seeing that buzz was "fascinating." Speaking with Variety, she said:
This time in my life has been fascinating, because it's the first and only time I think I've ever been involved in anything where the world has determined that I'm doing something before I have. Yeah, I had a pretty good laugh about that.
It's a good thing that Maya Rudolph is up for returning to play Kamala Harris for SNL Season 50; fans wasted no time in starting to speculate over who would portray Harris' husband, Doug Emhoff, on the sketch comedy show opposite her. For his part, Emhoff joked that Hugh Jackman, Ryan Reynolds, and Chris Hemsworth should be candidates to play him. Then came the requests for who would play Minnesota Governor Tim Walz after he was announced as Harris' running mate. The talk of her return to SNL took off quickly. Also in a conversation with Variety, Rudolph said:
It’s a huge compliment. But it was also very bizarre, because I woke up to an article saying that I was confirmed to play her — and I hadn’t spoken to anyone! This is so much bigger than me, and this is about something very important. I’m thrilled to be associated with it, and I’m also glad that I’ve played her and everyone’s cool with it. She likes it.
It's certainly a compliment when a key figure likes the portrayal on SNL, and Kamala Harris commented on Maya Rudolph's portrayal on Late Night with Seth Meyers when she was running for VP back in 2020, saying that she "fully intend[s] to make sure she has a good eight years of work on SNL." Oh, how times have changed since Harris was the candidate for VP rather than POTUS!
While the wait is now on to see what Rudolph delivers as Harris in SNL Season 50, take a look at her portrayal opposite Beck Bennett as Mike Pence:
SNL has a habit of bringing guest actors in to recur as major political figures, and often gets acclaim for doing so. Alec Baldwin won an Emmy for his spoof of Donald Trump in 2017 and was nominated for the same role two more times. Melissa McCarthy was an Emmy in 2017 as well for her take on then-Press Secretary Sean Spicer. Whether another Emmy is in the works for Rudolph as Harris remains to be seen.
It hasn't been confirmed when Maya Rudolph's return to Saturday Night Live as Kamala Harris will air, but I'd be surprised if she doesn't turn up in the Season 50 premiere on Saturday, September 28. In the meantime, you can check out her early portrayals as well as her run on Saturday Night Live as a cast member from 2000-2007 streaming with a Peacock Premium subscription.
