In today’s least surprising news, Deadline has confirmed that Maya Rudolph will play Kamala Harris on Saturday Night Live through the upcoming election season. Rudolph won an Emmy for portraying Harris during the 2020 election season and has returned to the show to play her a few times, so bringing her back was all but inevitable when Harris became the presumptive Democratic nominee. Saturday Night Live has been doing political comedy since its inception, but impressions used to come from inside the cast—think Chevy Chase as Gerald Ford, Dana Carvey’s George H.W. Bush, Will Ferrell’s Bush Jr., etc. In recent years, the show has relied more on stunt casting for political figures. Beginning with Tina Fey’s incredibly popular Sarah Palin, the biggest recurring political impressions are done by outside stars or returning SNL alums: Melissa McCarthy’s Sean Spicer, Larry David’s Bernie Sanders, Jim Carrey’s Joe Biden, and of course, Alec Baldwin’s Donald Trump, to name a few. It’s a strategy that’s garnered a lot of success and acclaim for the show—Rudolph is not the only one who has won a Guest Actor Emmy for it!—but it’s too bad for the up-and-coming SNL cast members, who are now less likely to make a name on the show with a memorable political impression. It’s also a form of political comedy that often relies more on passing physical resemblance than actual talent for impressions. That being said, no one’s going to be disappointed to have more Maya Rudolph on screens. However, fans of Loot may be a little let down, because according to Deadline they’ve paused production on the Apple TV+ series. Loot was supposed to start filming at the end of August and now it’s apparently been pushed to January in order to accommodate Rudolph’s SNL schedule. But presumably, Rudolph won’t rejoin Saturday Night Live as a regular cast member, so if Harris comes out on top they’ll still need to find a regular cast member to do a presidential impression. In the meantime, Rudolph is nominated for another Emmy for her most recent SNL hosting gig.
