‘SNL’ Distorts Vice Presidential Debate and Mocks JD Vance and Tim Walz in Open Interview

Broadcasting live from New York, this is the first and likely only “Saturday Night Live” debate sketch about the 2024 election.

The show’s most recent premiere wiped out this week’s vice presidential debate, with Jim Gaffigan returning as Minnesota Governor Tim Walz and Bowen Yang reprising his role as Senator J.D. Vance. The sketch shows Vice President Kamala Harris, played by Maya Rudolph, nervously observing the situation with her husband Douglas Emhoff (Andy Samberg).

Early in the debate draft, both candidates dodged the question about the Middle East crisis, with Vance avoiding the answer and Walz simply saying “the word fundamental.” Harris quickly became concerned about her running mate’s performance, but Emhoff assured her that Walz “won’t say something crazy.”

“I made friends with school shooters,” Walz then said, leading a shocked Harris to smash her wine glass. (Walz made this remark during the debate, but later told NBC News that he was “talking about meeting people where there are school shooters.”)

The sketch also mocked Walz, who claimed he was in Hong Kong during the Tiananmen Square protests.

“So I guess I went to Epcot,” Gaffigan’s character said. “You can go all over the world, and I had a couple in the section in Germany and I thought I went to China. Either way, I’m a jerk.”

Vance wasn’t without jabs either, with Yang’s character stating that when he said former President Donald Trump could be America’s Hitler, he “meant it as a compliment.” He later repeatedly declared that his statements were not subject to fact checking, insisting that Trump had “peacefully surrendered power.”

“If we are allowed to stand here and lie, I would like to say that I was indeed in Tiananmen Square,” Walz Gaffigan replied.

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The sketch also featured Vance and Walz seemingly seeing some surprising common ground, with the two candidates at one point looking into each other’s eyes as music played indicating they had connected. After spitting out Rudolph’s wine, Harris asked, “Why are they friends? Why do they vibrate?”

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However, at the end of Rudolph’s, Harris was delighted that Vance refused to say that Trump lost the 2020 election, and the sketch suggested that it was a last-minute victory for Walz. “Baby, we made it!” – Emhof said. “We have a sound bite!” Meanwhile, Harris called the debate a “huge victory” because it “didn’t matter at all!”

Later in the sketch, President Dana Carvey’s Joe Biden joined the group watching the debate and criticized Walz’s performance. “The vice president doesn’t matter,” he said dismissively as he ate an ice cream cone. “I mean, who the hell was Obama’s vice president? Nobody knows!”

Next up on Saturday’s episode was the return of The Lonely Island, which debuted a new song in a digital short film about a weird business idea that involves serving people sushi through a hole in the bathroom.

“SNL” will return next week with an episode hosted by Ariana Grande and musical guest Stevie Nicks.

This article originally appeared on USA TODAY: ‘SNL’ Vice Presidential Debate Mocks JD Vance and Tim Walz