Kamala Harris made a shock look on the present, however one other phase final night time made a sharper political level.
Opposite to what Lorne Michaels mentioned about not having political candidates visitor on Saturday Night time Stay earlier than the polls shut Tuesday, the largest shock of the present’s closing preelection episode was … a cameo by the Democratic presidential nominee, Kamala Harris. Showing within the closing minutes of the chilly open, utilizing an oft-trodden mirror premise, Harris sat reverse Maya Rudolph (who has been portraying the vice chairman since 2019) and exchanged a winking dialogue that added “-ala” to the ends of phrases. “The American folks wish to cease the chaos,” Rudolph started, earlier than Harris rejoined “and finish the dram-ala.”
The sunshine—and comparatively simple—second contrasted James Austin Johnson’s burned-out tackle Donald Trump that kicked off the chilly open. Satirizing the previous president’s speech from his Wednesday rally in Inexperienced Bay, Wisconsin, Johnson briefly solid apart his impersonation, which often consists of Trump leaping matter to matter with none agency footing. He as an alternative appeared to interrupt the fourth wall: “Get me out of right here,” he mentioned, slumping over the rostrum. “Make it cease.” It was arduous to inform how a lot of the sentiment was coming from the comic’s Trump character and the way a lot from Johnson himself.
However one other sketch final night time extra crisply underscored the exhaustion of the present political second—and the way in which high-stakes rhetoric can repeat from election cycle to election cycle. The recurring game-show phase “What’s That Identify?,” which derides contestants’ skill to recollect minor celebrities’ names however not these of the folks they encounter every day, returned for an election version. Airing not lengthy after Harris stopped by, the bit felt culturally savvier and got here with an surprising political visitor star of its personal.
The episode’s host, John Mulaney, performed a information junkie who was quizzed in regards to the extra obscure 2024 general-election gamers, reminiscent of Particular Counsel Jack Smith. The contestant was effectively knowledgeable in regards to the goings-on—and clearly fairly pleased with it—as a result of, as he put it preachily, “That is crucial election in American historical past. Democracy is on the road.” In distinction to the roaring pleasure that Harris’s visitor flip provoked among the many viewers mere moments earlier—cheering that lasted practically 30 seconds and stored Harris and Rudolph from launching into the scene—Mulaney’s character’s line elicited a weak smattering of applause that hardly registered as “clapter.”
The sketch coyly upped the ante of such all-or-nothing verbiage—vital, but additionally acquainted—when the sport’s host (performed by Michael Longfellow, following Invoice Hader’s authentic flip) introduced out Senator Tim Kaine of Virginia. Recalling his time as Hillary Clinton’s operating mate through the 2016 marketing campaign, Kaine recited a fine-tuned setup: “On the time, you mentioned it was crucial election in American historical past, and that democracy was on the road. It’s been lower than eight years. What’s my title?” Mulaney’s contestant stretched to discover a response that may permit him to save lots of face, lastly touchdown on an opportunity responsible Kaine for not being as memorable as the present vice-presidential candidate Tim Walz. Longfellow’s game-show host, taking pleasure in watching Mulaney’s in-the-know smugness crumble, positioned a photograph of Kaine facet by facet with Walz to show how they not solely look alike but additionally share the identical title. “Actually? His title was Tim?” Mulaney requested, to which Kaine delivered the pitch-perfect retort: “My title continues to be Tim. I exist.”
The sketch appeared to be SNL’s try and stability the chilly open’s levity with a extra biting tone in regards to the wearying stakes of deciding the nation’s management. The present seems to grasp these stakes extra clearly than it did in 2016, when, in a broadly criticized transfer, it invited Trump to host an episode. (Hillary Clinton cameoed one month earlier than Trump, enjoying a bartender named Val who listened as Kate McKinnon’s caricature of Clinton shared her considerations in regards to the upcoming election.) In having Harris however not Trump on the present (albeit for a a lot smaller visitor spot than her competitor as soon as had), SNL appears to be staking a minimum of a barely bigger political declare than it’s made up to now—and in a means that has already drawn flak from one of many Republican commissioners of the FCC for probably violating the equal-time rule. However with its longer view, “What’s That Identify?” landed the night’s subtler, extra stringent level.
