‘SNL’ Boss Lorne Michaels Sent Maya Rudolph A Mysterious Kamala Harris Text

Within seconds of Joe Biden naming Kamala Harris as his vice president came the Maya Rudolph jokes. “Maya Rudolph up your fee.” “Maya Rudolph bout to eat eat.” “I, for one, am also thrilled about 4 years of Maya Rudolph SNL appearances.” SNL‘s season premiere isn’t usually until late September or early October — whether it will be in-studio or virtual has yet to be determined — so there’s still time for any official decisions to be made, but having Rudolph playing Harris in season 46 (!) is on Lorne Michaels’ mind.

When asked by the Hollywood Reporter whether she’s heard from the SNL head honcho, Rudolph answered, “He sent me a GIF of myself, as Kamala, in sunglasses, sipping a cocktail and saying, ‘Oh no.’ That really made me laugh.” The Big Mouth star (one of her three Emmy-nominated roles this year) also said that after the announcement, her phone “blew up… I think there’s a collective excitement about this. It’s a spot of positivity and hope and some good news, so it feels nice to be associated with that. But I also feel like such a lazy cheater, because I didn’t do anything. I’m not running. I don’t have to do anything but be the same fool I was. She’s doing all the hard work.”

The most surprising thing about all this isn’t people being excited for Rudolph over Harris’ historic selection — it’s Lorne Michaels owning a smartphone. And that he sends people GIFs. That man has strong “rotary phone only” energy. I am, to quote a GIF that Michaels probably sent to Kristen Wiig once, shooketh.