Saturday night live has found its political candidates for 2024.
As the NBC sketch comedy show begins its fiftieth season, its creator and longtime master Lorne Michaels has cast his new group of powerhouse DC actors, 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 JD Vance, respectively.
All the actors were revealed Saturday night during the Season 50 premiere unveiling.
In a recent Hollywood reporter cover story, Michaels had teased the fact SNLThe Trump impression would have to be reinvented, just as it was when cast member James Austin Johnson took over for friend of the show Alec Baldwin. “James, who I think is brilliant, portrayed Trump as a sort of belittled Trump. The guy in the back of the hardware store held court, and that played because it seemed relevant,” Michaels said. “But we're going to have to reinvent it again because, well, you've seen the debate.”
It was previously announced that Rudolph would return as Harris, who she has played for several years now, in part because the first SNL cast member does a killer impression of Harris and partly because, as he said THR in 2022, “they know that if they call, I will be there.” More recently, Michaels said he never considered anyone else for the role once Harris declared her candidacy this summer, even though keeping Rudolph in the role required some planned gymnastics. Among other things, the Los Angeles-based mom of four needed to push back the production start date on her Apple TV+ series Loot.
Almost immediately after Walz was named Harris' vice president, the Internet tried to cast a Steve Martin lookalike for the part. As “Weekend Update” co-anchor Colin Jost noted, this is simply what happens now. “As soon as news like Kamala's candidacy breaks, America starts debating who will play against them.” SNL“, he said THR. “Before we even talked about it, there was a list of 10 people who should play Tim Walz.”
And sometimes the Internet has good ideas too. After all, Michaels put out a call to his old friend. But as Martin said The Los Angeles Times“I wanted to say no, and anyway, [Lorne] he wanted me to say no.” Michaels confirmed the last part, telling it THR: “That's not what he does. But you'll see a lot of things he does. (Michaels intends to bring back as many former hosts and cast members as possible as the show celebrates its 50th season.)
Of course, getting people to play politicians during a very important election year – like SNL done previously 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 says, 'I have a better impression than that person who walks in,' that's probably frustrating,” Jost acknowledged, “but that's kind of the reality of our show.”