It’s an election year, so that can only mean one thing: Saturday Night Live is crushing it with their political sketches. If you haven't been paying close attention to the 2024 TV schedule, legendary SNL alum Dana Carvey returned to 30 Rock with his hilarious take on the sitting President. While the comedian has been crushing it as Joe Biden to the point that a clip of Carvey breaking down how he does the impersonation went viral, even comedy veterans miss the mark sometimes. The Wayne’s World star recently reflected on one such moment during an episode of his podcast, co-hosted with fellow SNL veteran David Spade. The famous impressionist says he knows his Joker bit “didn’t land,” and he wishes he’d made one big change now that he’s thinking about it.
In a recent episode of his Fly on the Wall Podcast, the Master of Disguise star opened up about a recent SNL cold open where he reprised his impression of Biden alongside Maya Rudolph’s Kamala Harris. The sketch, which also featured Alec Baldwin’s return but this time as Fox News journalist Bret Baier, parodied a pre-election interview between Baier and Harris. Baldwin's Baier character sets up the bit by playing a video of Biden, portrayed by Carvey, as he fumbles through a vague explanation about the recently released Joker 2. But the comment could be misconstrued as talking about Harris. Upon reflection, Dana had this to say about the bit:
So I do the little Biden piece as part of the Brett Baier interrogating Maya [as] Kamala. And he’s kind of confused. He starts talking about the Joker movie, but they don’t know it. So, I thought later, I went, ‘Who’s the Lady Ga Ga Ga?’ You know, whatever. I did that. Didn’t land. I thought later, I should have said, ‘And who’s Whackin Phoenix? Who the hell is he?’ Whackin Phoenix would have got a big laugh.
The sketch--which you can watch below--in classic SNL style, was meant to be a satirical nod to Biden’s sometimes confusing rhetoric, suggesting that he was critiquing Harris’s rise to the presidency in 2024. However, Rudolph’s Harris clarifies that the President is actually rambling about Joker: Folie à Deux. This setup led to Carvey’s Biden launching into a tangent, expressing confusion about Lady Gaga’s involvement in the sequel and the singing.
The Gaga joke didn’t land as well as the comedian had hoped, receiving only a mild reaction from the audience. Reflecting on it later, he felt that using Joaquin Phoenix’s name as “Whackin Phoenix” could have delivered a bigger laugh. However, considering that many people didn’t even watch the controversial Joker, and those who did watch it mostly had a negative response to the sequel, it’s debatable whether this alternative punchline would have fared any better.
Dana Carvey’s reflection on the podcast also highlights the effort and precision that go into creating a single sketch. On Fly on the Wall, he and Spade often revisit their past SNL moments, breaking down both the hits and the misses that defined their time on the show. The performer's openness to critique his own work is a fun look into his process.
As SNL leans heavily into its election coverage, even bringing back Maya Rudolph’s Kamala Harris, it raises an interesting question: if Vice President Harris wins the upcoming election, will Rudolph continue to portray her on the show? Only time will tell. For now, fans can stream the latest season with a Peacock subscription.