Following reports of an unexpected stop in New York on Saturday night, Vice President Kamala Harris did indeed jet to 30 Rock the weekend before the election to appear on “Saturday Night Live.”
Maya Rudolph’s Kamala Harris took a moment to reflect during the cold open, saying, “This is it. The last campaign stopped in Pennsylvania. I wish I could talk to someone who’s been in my shoes, you know, a Black, South Asian woman running for president, preferably from the Bay Area.”
At that, the real Kamala Harris showed up to a nearly 30-second applause break. She appeared in Rudolph-Harris’ mirror, playing her reflection and giving her a pep talk. “You got this, because you can do something your opponent cannot do. You can open doors,” the real Harris said.
From there, the two went back and forth, completing each other’s sentences with plays on Harris’ name, excited to end the drama-la, and prepared to “keep calm-ala and carry on-ala.” Rudolph was visibly moved by the entire moment.
The episode started with a spoof of CNN’s Kaitlan Collins (played by Chloe Fineman), prepping viewers for closing messages from both candidates. First, they went to James Austin Johnson’s Trump, wearing his garbageman vest, mocking his latest antics and begging to be done with the election.
As Bowen Yang’s JD Vance took the stage, the scene jumped to Rudolph’s Kamala Harris, Andy Samberg’s Doug Emhoff and Jim Gaffigan’s Tim Walz immediately turning the TV off and reflecting on their own campaign.
Early last month, Harris was shown Maya Rudolph’s latest impression of her during an appearance on ABC’s “The View,” which immediately cracked her up.
“Oh my God!” Harris exclaimed, laughing and applauding. “I hadn’t seen that! I hadn’t seen that. Oh, she is so good.”
“The View” host Joy Behar asked Harris point blank if she liked Rudolph’s impression, which the vice president confirmed.
“Maya Rudolph. I mean, she’s so good. She’s so good!” she marveled. “She had the whole thing! The suit, the jewelry, everything! Wow! The mannerisms!”
You can watch the cold open from Saturday night in the video above.
