Now that Tim Walz has been named the Democratic candidate for vice president, it’s time to tackle the most pressing question left in media and politics: Who will play the earnest ex-schoolteacher-turned-governor-turned-dad jokes magnet on Saturday Night Live?
One favorite has already dropped out: comic actor Steve Martin told The Los Angeles Times he turned down an offer from SNL executive producer Lorne Michaels to play the Minnesota governor, a fellow balding, white-haired guy with a wide smile.
“I said, ‘Lorne, I’m not an impressionist,’” Martin told Times columnist Glenn Whipp. “You need someone who can really nail the guy.’ I was picked because I have gray hair and glasses.”
Fans had been circulating pictures of Martin online with SNL alum Maya Rudolph, adding to buzz she may reprise playing Vice President Harris – this time as the Democratic presidential nominee – when the show returns to new episodes this fall.
Why this discussion matters
Excitement over Martin reminded me of the moment Sarah Palin was named a vice presidential candidate in 2008, prompting loads of comedy nerds to send around emails noting how much Palin looked like another SNL alum, Tina Fey.
Fey’s impression of Palin eventually dominated pop culture so much, people believed the politician — then Alaska’s governor — really said, “I can see Russia from my house,” a line that Fey actually dropped during SNL’s season premiere in September 2008.
Images of Gerald Ford as a clumsy doofus, George H.W. Bush as a patrician so stiff his words sounded like gibberish, and Al Gore as a stuffy know-it-all obsessed with the word “lockbox,” all come from devastating SNL parodies. So who plays Walz – and how – may affect how history remembers him more than anything he actually does.
(Ditto for GOP vice presidential candidate JD Vance, whose selection didn’t quite inspire the same level of SNL fancasting online).
I sympathize with purists who insist one of the show’s castmembers should get a shot at playing new figures like Walz or Vance — in the same way James Austin Johnson has electrified viewers with his amazing take on former President Donald Trump.
But Michaels discovered long ago that stunt casting celebrities brings attention and ratings. Even if they don’t really bother trying to imitate the people they’re playing, like Robert DeNiro and Ben Stiller (as Robert Mueller and Michael Cohen, respectively).
So here’s my short list of the folks left who Michaels should consider casting as Walz — along with a couple recommendations for Vance. Because teaching us how to laugh at these people just might help us understand them - or at least learn to tolerate them.
Jim Gaffigan
PROS: He’s a brilliant standup comic, with multiple Grammy nominations and specials aired or about to debut on Netflix, Prime Video and Hulu. He’s from the Midwest – raised in Indiana, championed by fellow Hoosier David Letterman – with bits centered on being a father of five, married to a wife so devout he calls her a “Shiite Catholic.” He’s got the stocky build and blonde, thinning hair, along with acting chops from loads of TV and film work, including TV Land’s The Jim Gaffigan Show, Law & Order and, recently, pal Jerry Seinfeld’s Netflix movie Unfrosted.
CONS: He doesn’t seem to be down with the SNL crew; despite a long career in comedy, he’s never hosted the show.
Tracy Letts
PROS: A consummate actor and playwright who has won Tony awards and a Pulitzer prize, he’s better known for his self-described specialty playing “a—holes in suits” in films and TV shows like Ford v. Ferrari, Lady Bird and Winning Time.
CONS: Though he had early roles in sitcoms like Seinfeld and The Drew Carey Show, he’s not really known for comedy.
Melissa McCarthy
PROS: Hear me out. She’s a brilliant comedic actor with a long history of guesting on the show. And she delivered a sidesplitting take on Trump’s former spokesperson Sean Spicer that perfectly captured his clueless bluster.
CONS: Despite his Big Dad Energy, Walz is such a masculine guy – hunter, former football coach ex-military – that, funny as it might be to see McCarthy give it a shot, SNL may just want a guy in the role.
Will Ferrell
PROS: Amazing at improvisational and sketch comedy, he’s an SNL alum who has played everyone from George W. Bush to former Attorney General Janet Reno.
CONS: His oddball energy is a little eccentric and sharp for playing a guy who comes off as America’s goofy father figure.
The ghost of Chris Farley
PROS: The SNL star had an over-the-top exuberance, unkempt blonde hair and talent for self-deprecating humor that seemed like a cartoonishly exaggerated version of Walz’s vibe – perfect for a parody sketch.
CONS: Just another reminder of what the comedy world lost in 1997 when he died at age 33 after an overdose. (Though his younger brother, comic and actor Kevin Farley, might also be an able contender).
Jason Sudeikis — as Walz and/or Vance
PROS: An alum of the show, he knows his way around sketch comedy and political impressions — he played Joe Biden and Mitt Romney at different times. He’s also got a facility with corny, dad-style humor, as evidenced by his time playing the earnest, fictional coach on Ted Lasso. Anyone who remembers his work as one half of a self-centered yuppie couple in the “Two A-holes” sketches (with another SNL ace, Kristen Wiig), also knows he has a knack for playing haughty, entitled white guys.
CONS: He doesn’t quite look like Walz – frankly, he’s a little too thin and good looking. And his success as Vance might be directly proportional to the quality of the fake beard and hairpiece they can slap on him.
My first choice for Vance: Zach Galifianakis
PROS: He’s got the bushy brown beard, the shock of thick hair and a talent for playing clueless egotists honed on his interview parody show, Between Two Ferns.
CONS: He’ll be so good we may forget how odd Vance is in real life.
Another great Vance: Jon Hamm
PROS: An ace dramatic actor whose secret weapon is a sharp knack for comedy (see 30 Rock, Bridesmaids), he’s also great at making audiences love difficult people (see Mad Men). His turn as a cult leader on The Unbreakable Kimmy Schmidt proves he can make great comedy out of playing quirky big shots. And he’s also a friend of SNL, hosting the show three times and making cameos in multiple skits.
CONS: Hamm will also need a convincing wig or two to make this work. And given all the other cool roles he’s been in recently — from Fargo to The Morning Show — SNL might have to work hard to keep him in the mix.
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