Maya Rudolph has opened up about the time she impersonated Barack Obama in a Saturday Night Live sketch alongside the former president, and why it never made it past dress rehearsal.
On a recent episode of Amy Poehler’s Good Hang podcast, the two former SNL co-stars discussed the first time Rudolph met Obama, which was in 2007 for the live sketch show’s 33rd season.
"The first time I met Obama when he was running for office, I was dressed as Shirley Maclaine," Rudolph said (around the 51-minute mark), to which Poehler added: "And then the second time you saw him, you were dressed as Barack Obama."
Rudolph revealed that the sketch in which she impersonated Obama, before he became president, depicted a Halloween party at Bill and Hillary Clinton’s home.
"I remember, Barack was new on the scene, looking smooth," she joked. "At that time, I think Barack Obama masks were popular. Because it was like, 'Ooo, the new candidate.' So the joke was going to be that I come in like, 'I’m Barack Obama!' Then he taps me on the shoulder with his mask, and takes the mask off, and everybody goes, 'Oh my God! It’s the real Barack Obama.'"
They did the sketch at dress rehearsal, but it didn’t make it to air. Typically, SNL does a dress rehearsal in which they decide which live sketches need to be changed or removed entirely from the broadcast. This sketch in question was thoroughly retooled, and Rudolph didn’t appear in the version that aired.
"We did not do it at air, thank God," she laughed. "I did not have a take on Barack Obama at all. … He’s a very tall man, handsome man. … I remember the first time we saw each other was when we were about to walk out on stage."
Rudolph didn’t have a good impression of Obama, mostly because he was a relatively fresh face in politics at the time, and when she asked for his thoughts on the sketch, he kept it brief. "All he said to me was, 'I don’t wear a three-button suit,'" she shared. "I still don’t know what means. It’s like a guy knowledge thing."
The version of the sketch that made it to the aired version of the episode did still feature Obama, who was playing himself, albeit without Rudolph’s impression.