When it comes to legendary impersonations on “Saturday Night Live,” Maya Rudolph’s triumphant returns to “SNL” as Kamala Harris are high on many “best of” lists. Though she left the show in 2007, Rudolph debuted the character during the 2020 election cycle in SNL’s impeachment town hall sketch, when she introduced herself as “America’s cool aunt. A fun aunt. I call that a ‘Funt.’”
“The kind of funt that will give you weed but then arrest you for having weed,” she continued in the 2019 sketch, making a pointed barb at Harris’ record as an aggressive prosecutor. “Can I win the presidency? Probably not. I don’t know. Can I successfully seduce a much younger man? You better funting believe it.”
Rudolph was back as Harris a month later. This time around, she tried her hand at re-creating viral memes — even in a pre-coconut-pilled world.
December 2019 saw Rudolph return as part of the PBS Democratic Debate cold open just after Harris herself had dropped out of the race. Rudolph referenced Lizzo’s “Truth Hurts” when she said, “I just want to show you how good you could’ve had it, America. You withheld your donations, and I got tired of waiting, so I walked my fine ass out the door.” Rudolph then sang the words, “You coulda had a bad b–h.”
Rudolph won an Emmy for her performance during the same sketch, which included a rap that begins at just over 7 minutes into the clip. “Look, when [Trump] gets to the Senate Judiciary Committee, he’s going to wish he’d never heard my name,” she began. “It’s pronounced ‘Kamala.’ It rhymes with ‘Pamela.’ It ain’t Camilla Cabello, it’s just Kamala.”
Rudolph returned as Harris after the former rival was announced as Joe Biden’s running mate. In a first debate cold open from 2021, Rudolph-as-Harris chastised Chris Wallace for not moderating the debate the way she would have. “You know, look, I think if there’s one thing we learned tonight, it’s that America needs a WAP: Woman As President.”
