Maya Rudolph's best moments as Kamala Harris on “Saturday Night Live” ahead of season 50 election coverage
A celebration of Momala.
It’s time for Maya Rudolph to brush up on coconut trees and Venn diagrams.
The Bridesmaids star has played Vice President Kamala Harris on Saturday Night Live 10 times over the past five years — and now that Harris is the presumed Democratic nominee for the presidency after Joe Biden withdrew from the race, fans expect Rudolph to have a major presence on the forthcoming 50th season of SNL.
In fact, Entertainment Weekly has learned that production on the third season of Rudolph’s Apple TV+ series Loot has been paused for unknown scheduling reasons, suggesting that the actress may be booked and busy in the coming months.
As Harris’ campaign heats up and SNL’s next season approaches, let’s take a look back at some of Maya Rudolph’s best moments as Kamala Harris on Saturday Night Live.
Rudolph debuted as Harris on the SNL season 45 premiere on Sept. 28, 2019, playing the future VP when she was still a candidate vying for the Democratic nomination in the primaries. “That little girl you just introduced — that little girl was me,” Rudolph says in her opening moment of the Democratic Town Hall, skewering Harris’ real-life anecdote about being bussed into an integrated school (“that little girl was me”). The sketch also featured host Woody Harrelson as Joe Biden, Larry David as Bernie Sanders, Kate McKinnon as Elizabeth Warren, and Bowen Yang as Andrew Yang.
Elsewhere in the sketch, Maya/Kamala refers to herself as a “funt” (fun aunt) — “the kind of funt that will give you weed and then arrest you for having weed,” she clarifies. “Can I win the presidency? Probably not, I dunno. Can I successfully seduce a much younger man? You better funtin’ believe it.” She also repeatedly likens herself to a TNT drama (“I’m Rizzoli and I’m Isles”), and after Harrelson’s Biden tells a rambling story about an old acquaintance named Corn Pop, Rudolph’s Harris asserts, “That little Corn Pop was me.”
Harris responded to the sketch on social media, writing “That girl being played by @MayaRudolph on @nbcsnl? That girl was me,” alongside a GIF of Rudolph from the episode.
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Rudolph next appeared as Harris in another Democratic debate sketch on the Nov. 23 episode of the same season, which also saw Harrelson and David reprise their roles from the previous debate as well as Rachel Dratch as Amy Klobuchar, Fred Armisen as Michael Bloomberg, and host Will Ferrell as Tom Steyer.
Harris begins her time with a clunkier portmanteau. “The funt is back, baby, America’s fun aunt. I’m also America’s cool aunt: the c… — you know what? Let’s not do that,” she says. “Tonight, I’m not gonna worry about the polling numbers. I’m just gonna have fun and see if I can get some viral moments. Mama needs a GIF.”
Kamaya then spends the rest of the sketch inelegantly attempting to create meme-able moments, including an “Old Town Road” TikTok dance and saying “Gonna tell my kids this was Michelle Obama” while winking.
Rudolph’s next appearance — another Democratic debate during the Dec. 21 episode — came after Harris dropped out of the race. Harris crashes the broadcast with a martini: “Oh, this is a debate? Honestly, I had no idea,” she says. “I was just in the neighborhood. But while I’m here: I just wanna show you how good you could’ve had it, America.” In an already dated pop cultural reference, she quotes Lizzo’s “Truth Hurts”: “You could’ve had a bad bitch!”
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Later, Harris insists that she’ll take Trump down as a senator. “I’ll still beat Trump, because when he gets to the Senate Judiciary Committee, he’s gonna wish he never heard my name.” She then breaks into song and exits the stage. “Funt out. Byeeee.” Rudolph ultimately won an Emmy for Outstanding Guest Actress in a Comedy Series for her work in the episode.
Rudolph’s tenure as Harris seemed finished once she dropped out of the race — until Joe Biden selected her as his running mate, which the actress learned during an interview with EW. "Oh s---," Rudolph said upon finding out about Harris’ VP candidacy. “Ruh roh.” After fellow interviewee Wanda Sykes joked "Somebody's gonna be very busy now," Rudolph said, "I love going to the show. Any excuse I can get, I love. I just didn't really anticipate traveling during a pandemic, but if there's anyone that can work it out I'm sure Lorne [Michaels] has some sort of invisible helicopter that can get me there.”
Following a 10-month hiatus, Rudolph returned to the role in the season 46 premiere on Oct. 3, 2020. Harris interrupts a Fox News debate between Alec Baldwin’s Donald Trump and Jim Carrey’s Joe Biden, attempting to settle the conflict between the two elderly men as if they’re toddlers. “Let Momala go to work,” she says. “America needs a WAP: Woman As President. But for now, I’ll settle for HVPIC: Hot Vice President in Charge.”
In the next episode, Rudolph’s Harris debates Vice President Pence, played by Beck Bennett.
“That’s right, the sentator from Kamalafornia is present,” she says as she enters the stage. She also makes a meal of the real Harris’ “I’m speaking” moment, essentially riffing on those two words for an entire minute. Later in the sketch, Carrey’s Biden transforms into a fly and lands on Pence’s head. Remember that?
In her third consecutive ep in Oct. 2020, Rudolph interrupts Trump’s NBC News town hall and attempts to ascertain what the hell is going on with the former president’s ASL interpreter. “I gotta get out of here, ‘cause this is some spooky-ass Jordan Peele nonsense.” Then, after a brief appearance in the 2020 Halloween episode, Rudolph returned after Biden and Harris defeated Trump in the election, playing the Vice President-elect with a renewed hunger for meme-able moments.
In the final ep of 2020, Rudolph played Harris once more in a sketch in which Bennett’s Pence receives the COVID-19 vaccine. At one point, she slaps Pence for suggesting the results of the election could be overturned, and insists, “I will make sure that Joe never specifies what he means by ‘diverse.’ That is my Christmas present to you, America.” She also shuts down Biden’s attempt to bring Kwanza into the conversation.
Rudolph’s most recent appearance as Harris came on March 27, 2021, when she hosted SNL for the second time. The sketch saw the Vice President talking dirty with her husband Doug Emhoff (played by Martin Short) before hosting a star-studded Passover seder, welcoming Ted Cruz (Aidy Bryant), Ella Emhoff (Chloe Fineman), Raphael Warnock (Kenan Thompson), Joe Biden (Alex Moffat), and Marjorie Taylor Green (Cecily Strong). In a cheeky moment of unintentional foreshadowing, Harris says that just being VP “won’t be enough.” Rudolph won a second Emmy for Outstanding Guest Actress in a Comedy Series for the episode.
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