Who needs Maya Rudolph when you can show off the real thing?
U.S. Vice President and Democratic presidential candidate Kamala Harris is expected to appear on “Saturday Night Live,” according to a person familiar with the matter, the latest Oval Office hopeful to visit the show in an election year in a bid to win support and generate new publicity for a campaign. She has been played during the show’s current season — its 50th — by former cast member Rudolph.
A new schedule released by the Harris campaign indicated that the Vice President would fly from Charlotte, N.C., where she was attending an event, and fly to New York City on Saturday evening, landing at 7:21 p.m. That would presumably give her ample time to travel to Studio 8H in NBC‘s Rockefeller Center headquarters, where “SNL” is produced, before the show’s usual 11:30 p.m. start time. Harris was not expected to leave New York City until 12:40 a.m.
A representative for “Saturday Night Live” did not respond to queries. CNN and The New York Post previously reported that Harris was expected to appear.
In 2008, President Barack Obama, then just a candidate, appeared on the program in its opening segment, disguised initially under a Halloween mask of himself. Hilary Clinton, also vying for the presidency that year, also made a cameo, just a week later. Jon Huntsman, a Republican candidate vying to get into the 2012 election, made an appearance on the show’s “Weekend Update” in 2011. Sarah Palin, the candidate for Vice President under John McCain in 2008, appeared on the program with just a few weeks to go before the election.
Former president Donald Trump hosted the program in 2015, when he was vying among a wider pool of candidates for the 2016 race. He appeared on the broadcast for just 12 minutes overall, with NBC conscious of having to provide equal time to other candidates.
Harris will appear on the program with just two days between her cameo and the start of in-person voting — perhaps the closest any candidate has visited to the show to the start of Election Day.
More to come….
