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SNL's "VP Debate 2024 Cold Open" Brings Back Maya Rudolph, Dana Carvey & Andy Samberg
Kamala Harris, Doug Emhoff, and Joe Biden reacted to the Vice Presidential debate in the second cold open of Season 50.
The sole planned debate between vice presidential candidates J.D. Vance and Tim Walz was the focus of Saturday Night Live's October 5 cold open, with Vice President Kamala Harris (Maya Rudolph) and her husband Doug Emhoff (Andy Samberg) settling in to watch it at home — eventually joined by a confused President Joe Biden (Dana Carvey).
SNL alums and former Baking It co-hosts Rudolph and Samberg continued to have delightful chemistry as the VP and Second Gentleman. "Looks like I got to notify the Secret Service, because we are under a snack attack," Samberg's Emhoff cracks Dad-style as they sit down together.
After celebrating the recent endorsements from former Republican congresswoman Liz Cheney and Bruce Springsteen ("baby I was born to run!") their excitement is soon tamped down by what they found to be a frustrating debate between Vance (Bowen Yang) and Walz (Jim Gaffigan).
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Dana Carvey's Joe Biden joins Kamala and Doug at home on SNL
"Okay. Okay. He's out there, he's doing his thing...whatever that may be," Rudolph's Harris tells her husband.
"Come on, just relax," Samberg's Emhoff says. "You know, you haven't had a night off in three months — do you want to watch something less stressful, like the Menendez brothers show?" But they stay tuned, a choice that causes Harris to shatter her wine glass with her bare hand.
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"Look, this isn't easy for me either as a goofy white guy," Samberg's Emhoff jokes of Walz's seeming nervousness. "This really sets my fellas back. I'm in a group chat with Josh Gad and Jason Kelce, and the mood is dark."
As Yang's Vance downplays his past criticisms of running mate Donald Trump and the two candidates bond by touching each other's half of the screen, Emhoff tells Harris, "It's Joe Biden."
"I can't talk right now, tell him I'm not here," she says.
"No, no — he's in the room," he explains, as Biden (Carvey) wanders in and begins to ramble.
"And by the way, you should be talking about all the great things we've done," Carvey's Biden says. "Gas prices, down. Border crossings, down. Emmys for The Bear, down! Everybody get down...tonight."
And that's before Biden whips out his signature ice cream cone. Watch "VP Debate Cold Open" from Season 50, Episode 2 above, and watch Saturday Night Live on NBC and Peacock, streaming next day on Peacock.
Dana Carvey says he was asked to play Biden before the July switch
In an episode of Carvey's Fly on the Wall podcast with fellow SNL alum David Spade, he said that SNL co-creator Lorne Michaels had contacted him about playing President Joe Biden for a six-episode run back in June.
He added that his performance is informed by the Biden impression he's been developing on the podcast.
"I had this take on Biden that I developed on this show," Carvey explained. "I wanted to just meet with the writers, and so they said fine. So I went in on Tuesday for about a half-hour and just ran them through the Biden hooks, the Biden walk, 'Can't believe it's not butter,' all this stuff."
Deferring to the staff writers, Carvey wasn't sure how many of his ideas would make the final script, and was pleasantly surprised. "We collaborated the rest of the week, and they were just cool," he continued. "They let me really do the Biden I wanted to do."
