Finally, an announcement even more awaited than the Snyder Cut — it was revealed this Tuesday that SenatorKamala Harriswould become former Vice PresidentJoe Biden’s running mate in this year’s Presidential election, making a whole lot of history as the first Black (and South Asian) woman to run for the country’s second-highest office on a major party’s ticket.
One of the least important yet still fun aspects of this announcement is the fact that in the world of comedy, it means more work forMaya Rudolphin the very-not-too-distant future. TheSaturday Night Livealum, like so many former cast members, has made regular appearances during this most recent election cycle as Harris, even after Harris officially dropped out of the race.
Rudolph has made three appearances onSNLas Harris, which doesn’t feel like a lot, but all of them stand out for how fiercely she owned the screen. The first came during the Season 45 premiere, one of many “let’s get the whole cast plus a bunch of other people” roundtable sketches formatted as a DNC Town Hall meeting. “I’m RizzoliandIsles,” she promises.
In a subsequent appearance, Rudolph-as-Harris declared herself to be America’s Cool Aunt and became quite thirsty for being made into a GIF:
And then, even after she’d dropped out of the race in December 2019, she still managed to make an appearance during theEddie Murphy-hosted episode — reminding America just how good we could have had it (and, I guess now, how good we still might, eventually).
For the record, Harris is more than familiar with Rudolph’s impression of her,tellingSeth Meyersduring an October 2019 appearance onLate Nightthat she was “overwhelmed” by the idea that anyone would be imitating her on the show, adding that “I fully intend to make sure she has a good eight years of work onSNL.” Harris said that then while campaigning to run for President, not Vice President, but that doesn’t mean Rudolph should be making any firm Saturday night plans this fall — or potentially beyond that.
UPDATE:Rudolph tells Entertainment Weeklythat she’s on board to return as Harris onSaturday Night Live, pandemic permitting:
I love going to the show any excuse I can get…I just didn’t really anticipate traveling during this pandemic, but if there’s anyone who can work it out I’m sure Lorne [Michaels] has some kind of invisible helicopter that can get me there.
