Kamala Harris appears on ‘SNL’ with Maya Rudolph days before presidential election

With just days to go before the 2024 presidential election, Democratic nominee Kamala Harris just made a surprise campaign stop: a live appearance on Saturday Night Live.

The vice president turned up in Saturday’s cold open, alongside her resident impressionist on the NBC sketch show, Maya Rudolph, to urge voters to “Keep calm-ala and carry-on-ala.”

The episode started with a CNN spot in which the candidates were courting last-minute voters, including James Austin Johnson’s Donald Trump having an epic meltdown at a campaign rally. It then switched over to Rudolph as Harris, joined once again by Jim Gaffigan as running mate Tim Walz, Andy Samberg as Harris’ husband, Doug Emhoff, and Dana Carvey as President Joe Biden. Once Rudolph’s Harris was all alone, she turned to a mirror for a chat with herself, but on the other side was the real Harris dressed in an identical outfit. “It’s nice to see you again, Kamala,” the real Harris told her reflection. “I’m just here to remind you, you got this, because you can do something your opponent can’t do, you can open doors.”

The duo then joined together on a sing-songy pep talk, “The American people want to stop the chaos, and end the drama-la, with a cool new step mom-ala, get back in our pajama-laas and watch a rom-com-ala, like Legally Blonde-ala, and start decorating for Christmas, fa-la-la-lala. Because what do we always say? Keep calm-ala and carry-on-ala.” The sketch ended with the veep stepping out from behind the mirror to join the SNL alum to utter the iconic, “Live from New York, it’s Saturday Night!”

Harris herself has previously endorsed the Loot star’s impersonation. “Maya Rudolph, she’s so good, she had the whole thing, the suit, the jewelry, the mannerisms,” Harris said during an appearance on The View last month.

Before season 50 kicked off, SNL boss Lorne Michaels claimed fans wouldn’t be seeing any of the real candidates this election season. “You can’t bring the actual people who are running on because of election laws and the equal time provisions,” he told The Hollywood Reporter. “You can’t have the main candidates without having all the candidates, and there are lots of minor candidates that are only on the ballot in, like, three states and that becomes really complicated.”

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Although Harris’ Republican opponent, former President Trump, did not appear on SNL this election cycle, he hosted the show in Nov. 7, 2015, during his bid to be the GOP nominee for the 2016 election, which he later won. The hosting choice was largely criticized and the show faced protests, particularly amongst Latino groups after Trump’s recent comments calling Mexican immigrants criminals and “rapists.” Trump was invited to appear on the show again after his presidency, but declined, according to his later impersonator Alec Baldwin.

Other major presidential hopefuls who have made appearances on the show in the recent past include Barack Obama on Nov. 3, 2007; Hillary Clinton on March 1, 2008 and Oct. 3, 2015; and May 17, 2008 and Nov. 1, 2008, after previously hosting in 2002.

Tonight’s episode is hosted by comedian and former SNL writer John Mulaney, joined by first-time musical guest Chappell Roan. The “Hot to Go” singer ruffled the feathers of some of her politically-minded fans this summer when she declined to endorse a 2024 candidate, citing “problems on both sides.” Following online backlash, the pop sensation posted a TikTok video clarifying she would be “voting for f—ing Kamala, but I’m not settling for what has been offered, because that’s questionable”

Watch Harris and Rudolph in the full sketch above.

Saturday Night Live airs Saturdays at 11:30 p.m. ET/8:30 p.m. PT on NBC and Peacock.