Maya Rudolph has opened up on facing mounting calls to play presidential hopeful Kamala Harris on Saturday Night Live.
Rudolph first played Harris in 2019 and during the 2020 election campaign; the politician went on to become vice president, and the actress won an Emmy for portraying her on the NBC sketch show.
The noise for Rudolph to reprise the role has increased since President Joe Biden stepped out of the presidential race to make way for Harris as the Democratic nominee at November's election. It is an especially poignant moment as SNL will begin its 50th season on September 28.
"I have to tell you; it has been an experience," Rudolph said on a live episode of The Hollywood Reporter's Awards Chatter podcast. It was recorded in front of an audience at the San Vicente Bungalows in West Hollywood, California.
"My phone has not stopped. It's like if I had 50 grandmas and they were sending me articles like, 'This is the thing I saw you were in!' It's non-f******-stop. And it's fascinating because everybody's excited about this idea, and I have nothing to do with it. It's just happening in front of me. It's wild," Rudolph added.
Rudolph said that it was exciting to be a part of the chatter and election cycle, especially because it is one of the first times there are candidates that look like her.
"It's terribly exciting to be associated with, I'm not going to lie," she said, adding, "I could tell it was happening around me when Kamala was running the first time. This just feels a lot bigger.
"You mentioned Condoleezza Rice [another politician she once impersonated], and I balked because I was, like, 'That wasn't a good character.' But, in those days, I never really played many political figures because there weren't any that looked like me. That was just the truth of it," Rudolph said.
"It wasn't that I wasn't good enough to play them; I didn't look like them. So you could not have paid me any amount of money to believe that this would be anything that I would be associated with; someone who's running for president of the United States. It's incredible. So I hope it works out; it would be cool."
Rudolph rose to fame as a comedic actress on SNL where she debuted in the 1999-2000 season and went on to become one of its most popular stars.
This year, she is nominated for four Emmy Awards including, best comedy guest actress and best original music/lyrics for SNL, best comedy actress for Apple TV+'s Loot and best character voice-over for Big Mouth on Netflix.
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