Tim Walz (Jim Gaffigan) made his SNL debut last night as he joined Kamala Harris (Maya Rudolph) on the campaign trail of Studio 8H. “I got that BDE: Big Daddy Energy,” Gaffigan exclaimed as he prepared for a season of impressions and reminded us of Walz’s roots. “As a former teacher, I need the money. This suit is from Costco; it’s Kirkland brand.” While Steve Martin didn’t change his mind about not being an impressionist, Gaffigan embraces his Kirkland attire, setting the stage for some more friends to kick off the season. Here’s every political impression from SNL’s cold open.
Another key member of Harris’s team, former cast member Andy Samberg, geared up as the VP’s husband, Doug Emoff. The couple made intense eye contact before Samberg made it known how exactly he’d be portraying the second gentleman this season, saying, “I’ve heard what the right says about me just because I’m an unapologetic man supporting his wife. ‘Oh he’s a beta, a wife guy, a trad hus, a little spoon.’ Well, if that’s helping Kamala, who we call Momala in my family, not sure if I mentioned that, become president [by] being a little spoon, then you can cut my little butt.”
Returning to the stage is current repertory player James Austin Johnson, reprising his Donald Trump impression for another election season. As Trump’s audience members started leaving during the “third hour” of the rally, Johnson recapped Trump’s eventful last couple of months, “Come back, we’re having fun. We love my rallies except when someone does a bing bong bing bing bing right at me,” while making a shooting motion. He basically made check marks on all of the big moments: the assassination attempt, falsely alleging that Harris isn’t Black, and the “they’re eating the dogs, they’re eating the cats” debate quote.
Bowen Yang popped on some colored contacts as he transformed into his most leathery-looking impression of the evening, surpassing the moist Moo Deng. However, his speech on Project 2025 was cut short by Harris’s dancing.
Making a surprise appearance is Dana Carvey as the former presidential candidate and current president, Joe Biden. He stumbled up to the podium to give us a taste of what the season would’ve looked like if he hadn’t dropped out of the race. “But guess what? And by the way… I think I did a really good job,” Carvey reminisces as his time as Biden comes to a close end. Rudolph thanked him for “handing over the reigns” as Biden did not want his time to be over. “I didn’t want to. They made me. And guess what?” he concludes before he mumbles off some more of Biden’s favorite phrases.