Kamala Harris makes surprise appearance on ‘Saturday Night Live’

NEW YORK (AP) — Kamala Harris made a shock look on “Saturday Evening Stay” within the last days earlier than the presidential election, taking part in herself because the mirror-image double of Maya Rudolph’s model of her within the present’s chilly open.

The primary traces the candidate spoke as she sat throughout from Rudolph, their outfits equivalent, had been drowned out by cheers from the viewers.

“It’s good to see you Kamala,” Harris instructed Rudolph with a broad grin she stored all through the sketch. “And I’m simply right here to remind you, you bought this.”

In sync, the 2 mentioned supporters must “Preserve Kamala and carry-on-ala,” declared that they share one another’s “perception within the promise of America” and delivered the signature “Stay from New York it’s Saturday night time!”

Harris made the shock journey to New York earlier than Tuesday’s election, taking a short break from the battleground states the place she has been campaigning. With the looks on NBC’s sketch comedy present, the Democratic nominee hoped to generate buzz and enchantment to a nationwide viewers.

Harris had left Charlotte, North Carolina and was scheduled to go to Detroit, however as soon as within the air, aides mentioned she can be touchdown elsewhere. The looks was solely confirmed by Harris’ staff moments earlier than the reside airing started.

The vice chairman arrived at 30 Rockefeller Plaza in Manhattan, the place “SNL” tapes, shortly after 8 p.m., sufficient time for a fast rehearsal earlier than the present aired reside at 11:30 p.m. It was the ultimate “SNL” episode earlier than Election Day.

She left instantly after the opening section and instructed reporters, “It was enjoyable!” as she boarded her aircraft for Michigan.

Host John Mulaney and musical visitor Chappell Roan shifted the present away from politics. Neither addressed the election.

Some anticipated Roan, the 26-year-old singer who has turn into a serious star in current months, to make a political assertion in her first look on the present. She has beforehand been harshly important of the Democratic Occasion and declined to endorse Harris in her marketing campaign in opposition to Republican Donald Trump, though Roan has mentioned a number of occasions she plans to vote for her.

Roan sang her hit “Pink Pony Membership,” on an all-pink set bathed in pink gentle and made no remarks.

Sen. Tim Kaine, D-Va., additionally made a shock look, in a game-show sketch the place the gag was that nobody remembered him regardless of his being Hillary Clinton’s working mate in 2016.

“It’s been lower than eight years. What’s my title?,” he mentioned, because the contestants stood silent and flummoxed.

Rudolph first performed Harris on the present in 2019 and has reprised her position this season, doing a spot-on impression of the vice chairman, together with calling herself “Momala” — a reference to the affectionate nickname that Harris’ stepchildren gave her.

Fellow former solid member Andy Samberg appeared once more as Harris’ husband, second gentleman Doug Emhoff. Standup comedian Jim Gaffigan performed Harris’ working mate, Minnesota Gov. Tim Walz. Dana Carvey, greatest identified on the present for taking part in President George H.W. Bush within the late Nineteen Eighties, stood in for President Joe Biden.

Rudolph’s efficiency has gained important and comedic acclaim, together with from Harris herself.

“Maya Rudolph — I imply, she’s so good,” Harris mentioned final month on ABC’s “The View.” “She had the entire thing, the swimsuit, the jewellery, every part!”

Jason Miller, a senior adviser to Trump, expressed shock that Harris would seem on “SNL” given what Miller characterised as her unflattering portrayal on the present. Requested if Trump had been invited to seem, Miller mentioned: “I don’t know. In all probability not.”

Politicians nonetheless have a protracted historical past on “SNL,” together with Trump, who hosted the present in 2015. However showing so near Election Day is uncommon.

Clinton was working within the 2008 Democratic presidential major when she appeared subsequent to Amy Poehler, who performed her on the present and was identified for launching right into a trademark, exaggerated cackle. The actual Clinton puzzled throughout her look, “Do I actually snicker like that?”

Harris repeated that line in response to Rudolph’s portrayal of her snicker in Saturday’s episode.

Clinton returned in 2016, when she was working in opposition to Trump, who gained that election.

The primary sitting president to seem on “SNL” was Republican Gerald Ford, who did so lower than a 12 months after the present debuted. Ford appeared in April 1976 on an episode hosted by his press secretary, Ron Nessen, and declared, “Stay from New York, it’s Saturday Evening.”

Then-Illinois Sen. Barack Obama appeared alongside Poehler impersonating Clinton in 2007. Republican Bob Dole was on the present in November 1996 — a mere 11 days after shedding that 12 months’s election to Invoice Clinton. Dole consoled Norm Macdonald, who performed the Kansas senator.

Then there was Tina Fey’s 2008 impression of vice presidential candidate Sarah Palin — and specifically her joke that “I can see Russia from my home.” It was so good that Fey gained an Emmy and Palin herself appeared on the present that October, within the weeks earlier than the election.

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Lengthy, Miller and Weissert reported from Washington. Related Press writers Jill Colvin in New York and Andrew Dalton in Los Angeles contributed to this report.