Tim Kaine cameos in ‘SNL’ sketch; Pete Davidson returns

Vice President Kamala Harris wasn’t the only politician to make a surprise cameo on “SNL” this weekend.
Sen. Tim Kaine, D-Virginia, also appeared on the NBC show during a sketch that poked fun at the idea that everyone has forgotten him since he was Hillary Clinton’s 2016 running mate.
In the sketch, host John Mulaney played a contestant on a game show that asks players to identify the name of a real person. Mulaney’s character is depicted as someone who closely follows politics and stresses the importance of the 2024 election, and he easily recognizes Second Gentleman Doug Emhoff and Special Counsel Jack Smith.
But when Kaine himself walks out onto the set, Mulaney’s character is unable to name him.
“I was Hillary Clinton’s vice presidential running mate,” Kaine points out. “At the time, you said it was the most important election in American history and that democracy was on the line. It’s been less than eight years. What’s my name?”
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As Mulaney continues to come up blank, Kaine tells him, “You voted for me to be one heartbeat away from the Oval Office in an election more recent than the release of ‘Zootopia’!”
But the game show’s host doesn’t do much better, giving Mulaney three options for what Kaine’s name is that are all incorrect and then wrongly proclaiming he is Tim Scott. Later, Kaine comes back out, and Mulaney’s character still can’t identify him despite having just been told his name. “I just told you 90 seconds ago!” Kaine says.
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Mulaney’s character is then unable to name the victims of police violence that he urged followers to remember in 2020, and despite declaring that the country will turn into “The Handmaid’s Tale” if former President Donald Trump is elected, he doesn’t realize the book’s author, Margaret Atwood, has been standing next to him the entire time.
The Kaine sketch came on the same episode that opened with a surprise cameo by Harris, who appeared opposite Maya Rudolph’s caricature of her to give herself advice.
In yet another cameo from Saturday’s episode, former “SNL” cast member Pete Davidson returned to the show as part of Mulaney’s ongoing series of musical sketches.
This one was set in a Duane Reade inside New York’s Port Authority Bus Terminal, with Mulaney starring as a cashier who can’t believe that a customer, played by Davidson, decides to order milk. This sets off a series of musical parodies, with Andy Samberg even performing a “Hamilton” spoof as the bear Robert F. Kennedy Jr. dumped in Central Park.
Davidson was a cast member on “SNL” from 2014 to 2022. The comedian also showed off the results of his tattoo removal process during his Saturday appearance. He previously had tattoos covering both of his arms, but his arms were nearly ink-free during the segment.
In his opening monologue, Mulaney spoke about his newborn baby after welcoming his second child with wife Olivia Munn in September.
“We have a 5-week old daughter, and I have a 2-year-old son. My wife takes care of the 5-week old, and I take the 2-year-old out, and that’s not fair,” the comedian joked. “That’s not an equal distribution of labor at all. Saying ‘You have a 5-week-old, I’ll take a 2-year-old,’ that’s like saying, ‘I’ll transport this convict across state lines, you hold a potato.'”
Mulaney also quipped that his “whole life is looking down now” because he’s constantly looking down at his kids and at Munn, who he joked is “4 feet tall,” and Munn’s mother, who he declared is “2 feet tall.”
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Chappell Roan was the musical guest this week, and she first impressed with a performance of “Pink Pony Club” from her 2023 album “The Rise and Fall of a Midwest Princess.”
Roan then debuted a brand new country song, “The Giver.”
“All you country boys saying you know how to treat a woman right, well only a woman knows how to treat a woman right,” Roan said during the performance.
The “Hot to Go” singer, who has experienced a surge in popularity this year, recently teased a new project, writing on Instagram that her 2023 album “kinda popped off imo but it is time to welcome a hot new bombshell into the villa.”
This was the final episode of “SNL” to air prior to the 2024 presidential election. The show will return on Nov. 9 with host Bill Burr and musical guest Mk.gee.