“Saturday Night Live” is celebrating its 50th year.
They’ve had a great deal of trouble being funny for a long time. It’s been years since their golden days, although they have had some occasionally funny bits.
In their latest offering, they had Maya Rudolph playing Kamala Harris and Jim Gaffigan doing Tim Walz to start the cold open.
“When Kamala Harris called me and asked me to be her vice president, I said, ‘yeah,'” Gaffigan’s Walz said. “This is personal for me. I love this country. And, as a former teacher, I need the money.”
“This suit is from Costco. It’s a Kirkland brand,” he added, revealing the label. “They make great dog food!”
The gesticulations were good and yes, showed he was weird. Rudolph showed clearly that Harris wanted her “choice” off the stage.
Then they did pull off a funny bit about Joe Biden and Kamala Harris, with legendary alum Dana Carvey stepping into the role of Joe Biden. Carvey hasn’t been on the show since a visit in 2016. His take on Joe Biden was spot on, from the stilted gait to the nailing all of Biden’s word filler catchphrases that he employs when his mind goes blank. Rudolph was also good, with that clipped way Harris has of saying Joe Biden’s name.
“We couldn’t have gotten here without one man. And his name is Ja Biden,” she said. “Get on out here, Ja Biden!”
Then “Biden” staggered out. He said “a lot of people forget” and even he forgets he was still occupying the Oval Office. “But guess what, and by the way, I think I did a pretty good job,” he said. “But folks, we still got work to do. No joke. I’m being serious right now. Come on.”
“And guess what and by the way, the fact of the matter is,” “Biden” said, then leaned in doing that weird whispering thing he does. “The rich don’t pay their fair share! They gotta pay their fair share! We gotta build back better, build back the better…can’t believe it’s not butter!”
“Harris” tries to push him off the stage, thanking him for “putting country first and turning over the reins.” But Ja Biden wasn’t playing along and blew up the secret about the coup, “I didn’t want to!” he said. “They made me.”
Then he really did her in saying he and Harris were “the same.” That’s when “Harris” really tried to push him off the stage. That’s because in real life, Harris really doesn’t want people to think they’re the “same” when she’s trying to pitch herself as the change agent. She’s actually worse, but she doesn’t want to be tagged with the failure of the Biden-Harris team. But she was a big part of all of it.
That was a pretty good bit and all due to Carvey’s talent. The only thing they could have capped it off with was a random cackle from Kamala. But when they’re willing to call out the coup and point out how all of this is a problem for Kamala, you know that Harris just might have a problem.
