One of the staples of election season is how the candidates will be portrayed on Saturday Night Live. Maya Rudolph has always been SNL’s go-to for playing Vice President Kamala Harris. Last month, after she became the presumptive Democratic nominee for president, it was reported that Maya had agreed to reprise her role in the run-up to the election, and, presumably, beyond. This was news to Maya, though! She appeared on Jimmy Kimmel Live! this week, and when asked by the fabulous guest host RuPaul about stepping back into Kamala’s Converses, she revealed that she was pretty surprised to hear this news. Turns out, when the report came out, no one had actually asked her about playing the VP again. After sharing that fun fact, Maya spoke about how exciting it was for her to potentially be playing a presidential nominee that resembles her.

“I have to tell you something: I’ve never experienced anything like this with any of the work I’ve ever done,” Maya said. “This has been such a tremendous, exciting time for me that feels so much bigger than me or anything I’ve ever done.”

“I’ve played her on the show already, but the minute that it was announced that she was running, I think I was home watching The Bear, and it was like announced that I confirmed doing SNL. I was like, ‘I did what?'”

The Loot star acknowledged the outpour of encouragement she’s been receiving to bring her one-of-a-kind rendition of the Democratic nominee back to SNL, as well as the ultimate impact it’s had on her to play such a role.

“I would have never believed you if you had said, ‘Hey, one day you are going to be playing the presidential candidate.’ For me to think that I have anything to do with this by association is mind-blowing. I spent so many years on SNL, watching other people play presidential candidates, and thinking there’s no one that resembles me in the race. To think that we’re here now and to think that I would ever be close by association is so incredible.”

Although Maya neither confirmed nor denied if she’ll be stepping onto the SNL stage again, something tells me we’ll see her dressed as a certain someone real soon.

[From BuzzFeed]

It’s wild that so many outlets picked up that report and ran with it like it was true. It’s even more wild if no one has called her yet, although the premiere for Season 50 isn’t until September 28, so it feels like there’s plenty of time for them to make it official. What she said about it being so amazing to get to play a woman who looks like her that’s running for president is just so moving. VP Harris is breaking so many boundaries and the 2016 loss is still so raw that I’ve cried several times since Biden endorsed her one month ago. That speech where she introduces Gov. Walz as her running mate and announces also that she’s officially the nominee? Yeah, I sobbed for a while after that.

I’m really curious to know who they’ll get to play Gov. Walz, as well as Doug! For the record, I thought Martin Short was a terrible Doug when he played him back in 2021. (No offense to Marty; still love him in everything else!) This isn’t a hill I’m willing to die on, *but,* if they ever spoof Hope Walz and Ella Emhoff (again), I think they should just bring both daughters on to play themselves. That would be a very Gen Z thing to do, no? Oh, and in January, I hope they give Biden just as emotional a send-off as they did Hillary. Kate McKinnon’s cold open with Leonard Cohen’s “Hallelujah” still makes me sob uncontrollably.

photos credit: IMAGO/Faye Sadou / Avalon and screenshots from YouTube