Why Kamala Harris couldn't have asked for a better SNL impersonator than Maya Rudolph

Los Angeles Times

"Rudolph’s Harris describes herself as 'America’s cool aunt, a fun aunt — I call that a "funt" — the kind of funt that will give you weed but then arrest you for weed. Can I win the presidency? Probably not, I dunno. Can I successfully seduce a much younger man, you better funtin’ believe it,'" says Robert Lloyd. "As a thumbnail sketch of Harris’ mix of playful glamour and prosecutorial deadliness, it feels close to the mark. Filled out with blowing hair, a provocatively raised eyebrow, a blown kiss, the impersonation is as good as it needs to be. (Rudolph’s throwaway 'I dunno' feels especially right.) The writing casts her charisma in TV terms: 'a smooth-talkin’ lady lawyer, I’m a walkin’, talkin’ TNT show.' She may be holding a cocktail. She might rap: 'My name is Kamala/It rhymes with Pamela.' Politically speaking, SNL has always been less interested in examining policy than landing jokes, and even when the jokes don’t land, the show floats along on good will: More than anything, Saturday Night Live has been an occasion to get together with people you like — the people onscreen — and celebrate surviving the week. It’s a fundamentally joyful enterprise, and Rudolph was — and is, visiting — among its most joyful, exuberant, can-do players, qualities that resonate with Harris’ own. The fit feels temperamentally right, from both sides. Whether or not the party wins in November, it feels for the moment like the beginning of a beautiful friendship."