Moments after the dust settled from Vice President Kamala Harris’ decision to tap Minnesota Gov. Tim Walz as her running mate, a natural question bubbled up in the social media sphere: Who should play the guy on “Saturday Night Live”?
There are two schools of thought on such roles.
Actors can either go the James Austin Johnson as Donald Trump route and mount a vigorous impression of the politician that some could mistake for the man himself. Or they can take a page out of Chevy Chase’s book and hit the stage as themselves, merely adopting some of Gerald Ford’s more lampoonable qualities.
Here are 10 performers who could play Walz on the 50th season of “SNL”:
Michael Longfellow
There are really only two current cast members who can channel the right energy to either imitate or parody Minnesota’s governor. And that’s going to be Mikey Day and Michael Longfellow
Day already got a shot at playing a vice presidential hopeful when he was tapped to portray Sen. Tim Kaine of Virginia opposite Beck Bennett’s then-Indiana Gov. Mike Pence, though like many Day performances, it was a workhorse role meant to move things along rather than make a splash. That’s where Longfellow comes in. His Weekend Update appearances regularly go viral, and his devil-may-care attitude would pair well with plenty of Walz-isms, such as the governor’s repeated insistence that JD Vance and Donald Trump are “weird people.”
Bill Hader
“SNL” loves to tap alumni and longtime guest hosts as avatars of popular politicians. Look no further than Tina Fey’s Sarah Palin, Alec Baldwin’s Donald Trump and Maya Rudolph’s Kamala Harris.
And one of the show’s erstwhile impressionists might be the man for the role. Hader knows how to channel the spirit of the folks he impersonates and turn them into rock-solid performances that rival even James Austin Johnson’s Trump.