Iconic sketch comedy show Saturday Night Live is no stranger to surprise celebrity appearances, surprise politician appearances, or surprise appearances from those who qualify as both – remember when Donald Trump hosted in the runup to the 2016 election? – but the sitting vice president is a first. Saturday's show was full of all-timer moments, including yet another John Mulaney-led musical sketch about New York, but for many, the episode peaked in its cold open, with Maya Rudolph's Kamala Harris seated across from the genuine article.
SNL also isn't shy about political comedy, having joked about Trump and Biden equally in the past, but this feels much more like a wholehearted endorsement than the show has approached in recent memory. Because of this, the FCC has claimed that the episode violates the "equal time rule" that is meant to prevent public broadcasters (outside of the news) from pushing one candidate over another – and even as someone who's firmly team Kamala, it's easy to see where the complaint lies. It was less sketch and more extended political advertisement, although the FCC isn't expected to take any actual action. It is, after all, fairly tame compared to what Trump's been up to.
