In the run up to the Presidential election slated for the fifth of November, Kamala Harris, the Democratic candidate, made an unexpected entry on Saturday Night Live (SNL), a popular sketch comedy program. The appearance came off the back of a campaign rally in North Carolina, a critical swing state, where her opponent, Donald Trump, representing the Republican party, had also been campaigning.
Harris graced the November 2nd SNL show’s ‘2024 Pre-Election Cold Open’, seemingly elevating her own stature. The opening act revolved around a recap of notable campaign week highlights. Maya Rudolph reprised her role of mimicking Harris, with James Austin Johnson offering a caricature of Trump, albeit dressed in a gimmicky garbage vest.
As the scene progressed, it centered around Rudolph’s caricature of Harris, portrayed in front of a makeup table, voicing a desire to chat with an imaginary counterpart – a Black, South Asian woman with political ambitions, preferably from the Bay Area. The camera subsequently revealed Harris sitting on the other end of the imaginary mirror.
After an extending cheer from the audience, Harris chimed in with self-assuring words to Rudolph, and by extension, herself: ‘You got this.’ The conviction to address a crowd on national television even in a comedic context, appears reflective of her perceived self-importance and aspiration to outclass opponent Trump.
Harris added, ‘Because you can do something your opponent cannot do. You can open doors’, in an obvious mockery of a recent viral video involving Trump wrestling with a refuse truck’s door. It seems Harris is keener on entertaining the public through satirical takes rather than addressing more important issues the country faces.
Remaining in character, Harris and Rudolph carried on with a ’comedy rhyme-style‘ pep talk, with Rudolph extending her hand to Harris in a less-than-inspired jest, ‘Now Kamala, take my palm-ala’. They then agreed over a clichéd catchphrase about America needing to ‘keep Kamala and carry on-a-la.’
Rudolph and Harris converged center stage to voice the tired trope that Rudolph would vote for Harris, and then proceeded to jointly deliver the long-standing final phrase of the SNL cold open: ‘And live from New York, it’s Saturday night.’ It was a questionable ploy for amassing votes—blending politics and entertainment in this way.
Once the cold opening was over, John Mulaney, a former SNL writer, was left to continue with the rest of the show. Mulaney’s task, at that point, possibly included salvaging the show’s sanctity after the overt political overtures of its kickoff with Harris.
Despite all these contrived moments of humor and quasi-inspiration, this was Harris’s first appearance on the show. However, the vice president voiced her appreciation for Rudolph’s parodying of her on ‘The View’ back in October, endorsing the SNL star with the words ‘She’s so good’.
Harris’s appearance on SNL begs the question though—how fitting and worthwhile are such partisan displays in a comedy show format? Isn’t the objective of SNL, and similar platforms, to provide non-political humor and entertainment, rather injecting further divide and bias?
Contrarily, Donald Trump, no stranger to the world of showbiz himself, has had a couple of stints on SNL. These happened once in 2004, and once during his Presidential campaign in 2015. These appearances were, notably, before his tenure as President.
Under his presidency, Trump did not appear on SNL. This possibly shows a clear demarcation between the serious duty of his role as President, as opposed to the light-hearted mockery politics sometimes descends into on such shows.
Thus, viewers could question the worthiness and timing of Harris’s debut on SNL. It may serve as a distracting maneuver from the real issues, creating a fluffy facade of relatability while sidestepping meaningful discourse.
In recap, on the surface, it may seem fun and entertaining to see political figures participate in comedy sketches. Yet, beneath these antics, lie deeper implications about how the intersection of the political and the televised should ideally work.
It is possible that such moves can lead to a trivialization of politics, reducing serious campaigns and political rivalry to a laughing matter. This is an important observation to make, as it speaks to the approach and character each candidate embodies.
In conclusion, while Harris’s SNL appearance may have offered a few chuckles, it is essential to remember that it was, essentially, a planned bid to win hearts through laughter, rather than through concrete actions and policies addressing America’s concerns.