Saturday Night Live put a spotlight on the running for Georgia’s U.S. senate seat, in the beginning of the Dec. 3 episode. In the sketch, Kenan Thompson played Herschel Walker, who in real life, has been making headlines for his recent comments about being a vampire and werewolf during his campaign, as he met with Republican senators to talk about Tuesday’s election. Mikey Day also played Sen. John Cornyn, a Texas Republican, in the cold open.
Herschel Walker and his team meet to strategize for the runoff election in Georgia pic.twitter.com/thAPFLh0rm
— Saturday Night Live – SNL (@nbcsnl) December 4, 2022
“Herschel, the midterms weren’t the red wave we were hoping for, but we think you can win this Tuesday,” Mikey said to Kenan’s Herschel. “Yes, the priority now is to get out the vote because you got this big runoff coming up,” Cecily Strong, who played Sen. Marsha Blackburn, a Tennessee Republican, then replied.
“Well, I’m good at those. My ex-wives said all I do is run off,” Kenan’s Herschel chimed in before the discussion went on to include Herschel’s tight race against Sen. Raphael Warnock.
“This runoff is really important, Herschel. We could really use a win right now,” Mikey’s John added. “You can count on me,” Kenan’s Herschel replied. “I came to chew ass and kick bubblegum and I’m all out of gugglebum.”
“Maybe in the final push, let’s lay low and focus on the message,” Cicely’s Martha said before Kenan’s Herschel again replied with, “Exactly. Just like Kanye.”
Cicely then showed concern. “No, no!” she exclaimed.
The senators’ concern about the Republican candidate increased as he then said he’d be looking into “vampires, werewolves” and “that scary little Geico gecko.” They eventually decided to go with their plan B, which suggested James Austin Johnson as Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell put Herschel in a secure room and lock the door. “It’s only for a few days,” James’ Mitch said before the show officially kicked off with the intro credits.
Once the political SNL opening aired, fans of the show quickly took to Twitter to share their thoughts about how “accurate” some of it was. “So good and sadly accurate,” one fan wrote while another gave some constructive criticism of some of the main actors in the sketch. “The potential is there for this to be a great skit! Kenan didn’t deliver as Walker the way he could’ve. Everyone is putting on accents accept [SIC] for Kenan, it’s lazy. Walker has a heavy, unintelligible Southern accent. That would have straightened the skit,” the fan shared.
This isn’t the first time Kenan appeared as Herschel and Austin as Mitch. They both played the roles earlier this season during a Weekend Update segment. Saturday’s episode of SNL was hosted by Keke Palmer, who revealed her pregnancy on the show, and the musical guest was SZA.