Saturday Night Live has found its 2024 political candidates.
As the NBC sketch comedy show kicks off its 50th season, its creator and long-running maestro Lorne Michaels has settled on his new crop of D.C. power players, including Kamala Harris (Maya Rudolph), Tim Walz (Jim Gaffigan), Joe Biden (Dana Carvey) and Douglas Emhoff (Andy Samberg). SNL cast members James Austin Johnson and Bowen Yang will play Donald Trump and J.D. Vance, respectively.
All the actors were revealed during the cold open for the season 50 premiere on Saturday night, which saw them all out on the campaign trail ahead of the election in November.
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In a recent Hollywood Reporter cover story, Michaels had teased the fact that SNL’s Trump impression would need to be reinvented — just as it had been when cast member James Austin Johnson took over for friend-of-the-show Alec Baldwin. “James, who I think is brilliant, played Trump as the sort of diminished Trump. The guy at the back of the hardware store holding court, and that played because it felt relevant,” said Michaels. “But we are going to have to reinvent it again because, well, you saw the debate.”
Rudolph was previously announced to return as Harris, who she’s played for several years now, in part because the former SNL cast member does a killer Harris impression and in part because, as she told THR in 2022, “they know if they call, I’ll be there.” More recently, Michaels said he never even considered anyone else for the role once Harris declared her candidacy this summer, though keeping Rudolph in the role required some scheduling gymnastics. Among other things, the L.A.-based mom of four needed to push back the production start date on her Apple TV+ series Loot.
Almost immediately upon Walz being named as Harris’ VP pick, the internet tried to cast lookalike Steve Martin for the part. As “Weekend Update” co-anchor Colin Jost noted, that’s simply what happens now. “As soon as news like Kamala’s running happens, America just starts debating who’s going to play them on SNL,” he told THR. “Before we’ve even had a conversation about it, there’s a list of 10 people who should play Tim Walz.”
And sometimes the internet even has good ideas. Michaels did lob a call to his old friend, after all. But as Martin told The Los Angeles Times, “I wanted to say no, and by the way, [Lorne] wanted me to say no.” Michaels confirmed that last part, telling THR: “It’s not the thing he does. But there’s lots that he does that you’ll be seeing.” (Michaels intends to bring back as many former hosts and cast-members as possible as the show celebrates its 50th season.)
Of course, bringing in people to play politicians during an all-important election year — as SNL previously did with folks like Baldwin and Jim Carrey (who once played Joe Biden) — doesn’t always sit well with current cast members. “If you’re someone in the cast who’s like, ‘I have a better impression than that person coming in,’ it’s probably frustrating,” acknowledged Jost, “ “but it’s sort of the reality of our show.”
