5 Actors We’d Love To See As Tim Walz On Saturday Night Live

Every time America faces an election for President of the United States, all eyes turn to “Saturday Night Live.” The late night sketch comedy show’s timely, political humor that often opens each new episode has been rather stale over the past decade or so, largely thanks to the inherently laughable clown show that was the Donald Trump presidency being more outrageous than any parody could be. By comparison, the lack of easy targets during Joe Biden’s presidency, other than the man’s age, haven’t done “SNL” any favors either. And yet the show persists in tackling timely political satire inspired by the week’s headlines.

Indeed, the shortcomings of “SNL” haven’t kept the show from preparing for the upcoming political brawl, with Maya Rudolph being brought back to play Vice President Kamala Harris alongside James Austin Johnson’s pitch perfect Trump impression. However, we’re still wondering who will be playing the Vice President picks for our respective candidates. While a raccoon with a tape recorder could easily double for JD Vance, who should play Tim Walz, the recently announced Democratic Vice President candidate?

On the surface, it seems like Walz doesn’t have any easily heightened traits other than his somewhat deep, gravely voice. It’s not the kind of easy casting where everyone could just tell that Tina Fey would be perfect as Sarah Palin. This is trickier, because whoever plays Walz will need to also craft a comedic persona around the performance where there isn’t an easily identifiable bit, other than perhaps his penchant for wanting to help everybody and everything. While we wait to see how showrunner Lorne Michaels handles the situation, we’ve come up with a list of actors we’d love to see play Tim Walz on “Saturday Night Live.”

Before we get to our primary picks for who should play Tim Walz on “SNL,” let’s talk about whether there’s anybody on the current cast that could play the Vice Presidential candidate. Unfortunately, Molly Kearney probably would have been a great option to bring Walz to life, but they just left the series along with Punkie Johnson. So, is there anyone else who could fit into the part?

First, James Austin Johnson could easily pull off an impression of Walz, even if he doesn’t fit the stockier physical build of Walz in real life. Makeup and wardrobe can work wonders in that department. But since he’s already playing Trump, that’s not likely going to happen. After all, he also has a killer Biden impression, and they let Mikey Day handle that. Speaking of which…

Mikey Day could be a possibility, though he has the same physical issues that Johnson does with the role. Plus, Day has proved that he’s not the best with political impressions unless their voice is already close to his own. Day’s take on Biden was supremely disappointing, and I can’t see him getting the tone and sound of Walz’s voice right.

Finally, even though they’re not technically part of the cast, Darrell Hammond is still kicking around “SNL” as the show’s announcer. Hammond has a plethora of political impressions in his history on the show, including his all-time great riffs on Bill Clinton and Al Gore, not to mention his own fantastic take on Donald Trump. There’s no doubt in my mind that Hammond could pull this off, and he’s at a good age to make it work without a lot of makeup required. If “SNL” wasn’t in the market for stunt-casting, I’d say this was the best choice.

But at the end of the day, “SNL” has typically gone with stunt casting for these political roles in order to drum up excitement during election years, and that’s probably what they’re shooting for with Tim Walz. So here are our picks of who should take the role.

Right out of the gate, if you see an image of Tim Walz, and you’re thinking about “SNL” casting, you’re likely going to come up with Steve Martin. From the glasses to the snow-white hair, it’s not hard to envision the star of “Father of the Bride” and “The Jerk” as Tim Walz. The only questionable side of this casting might be whether Martin can actually pull off the voice, which will be key to lampooning Walz without any other discernible traits being ripe for mockery.

While Martin is a legendary comedian, including being one of the most frequent and acclaimed hosts of “SNL,” he’s not exactly known for a cavalcade of all-star impressions, so I’m not confident he’s the best pick. But if Martin plays Walz similar to how he played Navin Johnson in “The Jerk,” bringing some boyish charm and naivete to the performance, then I could see it working. After all, it’s not as if Walz is going to be a breakout figure for comedy in the same way that Sarah Palin was for Tina Fey, so I can’t imagine “SNL” utilizing him very often outside of the Vice Presidential debate.

Here’s a pick that’s a little bit outside the box. Jim Gaffigan is best known for being a hilarious stand-up comedian, but he’s also appeared in various roles across film and television, whether it’s playing a version of himself in his own sitcom or delivering a career-defining performance in the indie drama “Linoleum,” an underseen gem released in 2023. Gaffigan is another comedian who has the right look to play Walz, even if he’s a little too tall. From the spectacles to the balding head of hair, and even some of Walz’s expressions, Gaffigan feels like a solid pick.

However, Gaffigan does have the same problem as Martin. He’s not known for being an impressionist, and I’m not sure he could convincingly pull off Walz’s voice. Then again, there are times when Gaffigan puts on a mocking, deep voice during his stand-up specials, and it could end up working very well for how Walz could be portrayed on “SNL.” Similar to Martin, Gaffigan has a delightful, everyman vibe about him, which is a big part of his success as one of the most famous comedians in the world.

Plus, Gaffigan has never even hosted “SNL,” though you might be surprised to learn that he had a bit part in the season 21 episode hosted by Christine Baranski in May 1996, where he appeared in a pre-recorded sketch for Jack Handey’s Fuzzy Memories. So as much as we’d love to see Gaffigan making a splash as Tim Walz, this one doesn’t necessarily feel likely either.

If you want to portray Tim Walz as this scrappy Midwestern politician with a little bit of zing, Jason Alexander could be a hell of a pick. While Walz doesn’t seem like he has the kind of energy that Alexander is typically known for playing, especially when we think of George Costanza from “Seinfeld,” I think we can all see that there’s maybe a little bit of Costanza in Walz just waiting for a moment to pop out. In fact, maybe that’s the bit. Walz could be portrayed as such a level-headed, easy-going guy, but then there’s something that just sets him off for a feisty little fit worthy of George Costanza (a role that could have been played by Danny DeVito). It’s an easy bit, but one that you could easily see the NBC crowd loving on “SNL.”

The only issue here is that Jason Alexander may not be big enough stunt casting to really drum up interest. Sure, people still love “Seinfeld” endlessly, which is why reruns are always running on TV at any given point during the day. But Alexander himself isn’t the kind of name to get people excited to turn on “SNL” for topical election humor. For that, maybe there’s a more reliable name who should return to the show.

John Goodman is one of the most beloved hosts in “Saturday Night Live” history. Not only is he reliably funny and a great actor all around, but he’s also one of the Blues Brothers. Goodman has a long history of making frequent guest appearances on the show, including various times when he’s played prominent figures like Linda Tripp, the whistleblower in the Bill Clinton sex scandal from the late ’90s. He also played Secretary of the State Rex Tillerson during Donald Trump’s presidency.

Goodman has this inherent Midwestern vibe about him, which is what made his portrayal of the patriarch Dan Conner in the hit sitcom “Roseanne” one of his best roles. He’s affable, confident without being intimidating, and his own voice isn’t too far from Tim Walz. With a little bit of finesse, I can see Goodman squeezing into that role, even if he doesn’t look like Walz at all.

However, there’s one major problem: Goodman is still working on “The Conners,” the “Roseanne” sequel series that was renewed for a seventh and final season earlier this year. Undoubtedly, the production schedule of “The Conners” would clash with “SNL.” There’a always a chance that Goodman would be needed so sparingly that something could be worked out. After all, Tina Fey played Sarah Palin plenty of times while in production on “30 Rock,” so it’s not impossible. But that show as also on NBC, so it was easier to organize. “The Conners” is on ABC, and they may not be so accommodating to help their network competition. We’d certainly like to see it happen though!

What needs to be said about Will Ferrell that we don’t already know and love? Ferrell famously mocked President George W. Bush on “SNL” for years, delivering one of the best and most memorable political impressions that the show has ever seen. In fact, Ferrell’s performance as Bush was so famous that it altered the former president’s real memories, to the point that the real George W. Bush couldn’t remember whether he actually made the flub of saying the misspoken word “strategery” or if it was a product of “SNL” writing (for the record, it was “SNL” who made it up). Plus, let’s not forget that Ferrell also had a spin as former Attorney General Janet Reno.

Ferrell is the kind of stunt-casting that would get millions to tune into “SNL.” Plus, even though Ferrell isn’t a master impressionist in general, I think he has both the vocal range and the screen-presence to pull off Tim Walz extremely well. Plus, Ferrell has aged quite a bit since his time on “SNL,” and he could easily fit into Walz’s appearance with a partial bald cap covering up his curly hair. We already got to see him sport a bald cap not too long ago as U.S. ambassador Gordon Sondland (seen above). If we’re looking for the kind of name that gets people jazzed about “SNL” and comes with a reliable history of sketch comedy work, Will Ferrell just might be the best man for the job.