Saturday Night Live kicked off its second show of the season with a hilarious parody of this week’s vice presidential debate.
It saw Bowen Yang take on the role of an awkward JD Vance, while Jim Gaffigan returned as a dim-witted Tim Walz.
The sketch poked fun at how reverential they were toward each other during Tuesday night’s debate, while also mocking some of the rules imposed by the debate moderators who insisted there would be no fact-checking, but then they did it anyway.
At one point, Vance and Walz were photographed gazing into each other’s eyes across the debate stage as the skit poked fun at how the pair found “common ground” between the two.
The episode’s cold open began with Maya Rudolph’s Kamala Harris and Andy Samberg’s Douglas Emhoff sitting down to watch the debate on the couch at home.
Saturday Night Live began its second show of the season with a hilarious parody of this week’s vice presidential debate in which Bowen Yang’s JD Vance and Jim Gaffigan’s Tim Walz found common ground.
SNL’s Heidi Gardner and Chloe Fineman played CBS News debate moderators Norah O’Donnell and Margaret Brennan, respectively.
“I feel good tonight,” Harris says of Rudolph. ‘We have momentum. Liz Cheney is about to endorse me and Bruce Springsteen. ‘Cause honey, I was born to run,” he jokes, quoting a line from one of The Boss’ legendary songs.
They proceed to turn on the vice presidential debate with moderators
SNL’s Heidi Gardner and Chloe Fineman played CBS News debate moderators Norah O’Donnell and Margaret Brennan, respectively.
‘Thank you for inviting me. I want to start with something that will appeal to women voters. “I understand that both moderators tonight are mothers and I like that,” Vance (Yang) begins before the cameras cut to Walz (Gaffigan), who can be seen doodling.
‘Are you preparing your answers?’ the moderators ask him.
“No, I have to grade these papers,” responds Gaffigan’s Walz. “I have a lot of midterms.”
Real life Walz was a teacher in the late 80s and early 90s.
As always, the impersonations were spot on with Bowen Yang as JD Vance.
Jim Gaffigan took over Tim Walz’s role as Democratic vice presidential hopeful
As questions begin in the mock debate, moderators Gardner’s O’Donnell and Fineman’s Brennan ask Yang’s Vance: ‘Senator Vance, you called Donald Trump America’s Hitler. Do you regret that?’
Just like in the actual debate, Yang’s Vance tries to explain why he said it.
‘Context matters. “I meant it as a compliment,” he insists.
Gaffigan’s Al Walz: ‘Governor Walz. He claimed that he was in Hong Kong during the Tiananmen Square massacre when he was at his home in Minnesota. Can you explain that?
Gaffigan’s Walz responds: ‘I think what happened is I went to Epcot. You can travel all over the world, and I had a couple in the Germany section and I thought I went to China. Anyway, I’m an idiot.
The moderators quickly move on to asking the vice presidential hopefuls how they could resolve the current crisis in the Middle East.
“That’s a very important question,” Yang’s Vance responds, avoiding answering the question. “Margaret, one that deserves an answer because it’s important and it’s a question you asked me tonight.”
Gaffigan’s Walz doesn’t fare any better, as he doesn’t seem to know the answer either.
In the play, Vance and Walz seemed to find common ground on their respective policies.
Maya Rudolph played Kamala Harris, left, Dana Carvey impersonated a confused Joe Biden, center, while Andy Samberg played Harris’ husband Doug Emhoff, right.
“So I’m going to say the word fundamental a lot because the debate is 30 percent funny and 70 percent insane,” he jokes.
Back at the Harris residence, Rudolph’s Harris begins to show concern for his running mate.
“Okay, okay, he’s out there and he’s doing his thing, whatever that may be.” Says Doug Emhoff of Andy Samberg. ‘Do you want to watch something less stressful like the Menendez brothers’ show?’ ask.
Rudolph’s Harris suggests they rewatch her presidential debate against Donald Trump. —Remember when I said his crowds were small and I broke his brain?
Samberg’s Emhoff tries to calm Harris’ fears of Rudolph.
“It’s not like I’m going to say anything crazy,” he says.
But Samberg’s Emhoff curses Gaffigan’s Walz, who gets it wrong: “I’ve made friends with school shooters,” he shouts, imitating a line during the debate that he got wrong.
The real-life Walz actually said he had “befriended school shooters,” but later clarified his comments, telling reporters that he was talking about people affected by school shootings rather than the shooters themselves.
Rudolph’s Harris portrayed and Samberg’s Emhoff showed up to watch the VP debate at home.
In what were probably the most memorable moments of the sketch, the two vice presidential candidates find “common ground” and can be seen on screen looking into each other’s eyes.
The parody made clever use of split screen and saw Yang’s Vance and Gaffigan’s Walz appearing by placing their hands against each other.
“This guy’s good, he’s got an answer for everything,” says Gaffigan’s Walz, turning to Yang’s Vance.
The pair’s sensitive moment sees them reaching out to touch palms from their podiums via split screen.
During the play, the two are seen saying the same thing at the exact same time while looking at each other.
‘Why are they friends? Why are they vibrating?’ exclaims Harris, played by Rudolph.
During Tuesday’s debate, both candidates repeatedly talked about agreeing with each other on a wide range of issues.
The two reached an agreement to speed up the asylum application system, bring jobs back to the United States, do more to address gun violence and not blame immigrants for driving up housing prices.
Back in the alternate reality of the SNL sketch, the moderators return to the issues at hand and show the worst moment of Vance’s debate.
Yang’s Vance if he were to certify the results of the upcoming election and pointed out how Donald Trump refused to accept the 2020 results.
‘Would you have certified the results?’ Gardner’s O’Donnell asks.
Yang’s Vance responds, while mocking the “don’t check the facts” rule that CBS News had previously set for itself but then failed to follow.
“It’s rich to say that Donald Trump is a threat to democracy when he peacefully handed over power (without fact checking) and voluntarily (don’t check) got on his plane without incident, right after saving Obamacare, don’t check that,” Vance said. of Yang.
In real life, Vance complained that moderators fact-checked him on some of his false claims.
Gaffigan’s Walz is then allowed a few more seconds to speak and attempts a “Hail Mary,” referencing a soccer term to score some points before time runs out in the game.
“I have to get some points on the board here, so I’ll throw in a shout out Maria.” Senator, will you admit that Donald Trump lost the election? ask.
“Tim, I’m focused on the future,” Yang’s Vance responds, deftly deflecting the question.
‘Bump, it’s good!’ praises Gaffigan’s Walz.
Back at the Harris house, Rudolph’s Harris expresses relief that Walz made it through the debate.
‘This is a great victory. It didn’t make any difference,’ he said.
The sketch ended with Carvey’s Joe Biden, center, rambling about a full ice cream cone sitting between Rudolph’s Harris and Samberg’s Emhoff.
Later in the skit, Dana Carvey’s Joe Biden arrives at Harris’ house to give her some advice.
“Hey, kid, let me give you a little pep talk,” says Carvey’s Biden. ‘Here’s the deal. I’m being serious right now. Look at me. I’m serious right now. The vice president doesn’t matter.”
Carvey’s Biden says Walz should highlight “all the great things we’ve done” over the past four years in the White House.
“Gas prices are down, border crossings are down, and Emmys for The Bear are down,” says Carvey’s Biden. ‘Everyone come down…tonight.’
Biden is portrayed as clumsy as he appears with his trademark ice cream cone and general confusion.
‘Who the hell was Obama’s vice president? Nobody knows,” says Biden of Carvey.
Of course, in real life Joe Biden was Obama’s vice president from 2009 to 2017.
It was Carvey’s Biden who had the last laugh as he shoved his ice cream in Rudolph’s Harris’s face.
“You’re going to be a great president and when you’re done it will be my turn.” ‘Biden 2028!’