In late July, Maya Rudolph’s name was trending on social media. The reason had nothing to do with her four Emmy nominations for her work on three different shows — a feat that is not only impressive but also unheard of. It was because President Joe Biden announced that he wasn’t seeking reelection, and throwing his support behind Vice President Kamala Harris, who is now the Democratic nominee.
The extent of the buzz generated by “Saturday Night Live” fans who immediately thought of Rudolph reprising her role of the VP left her speechless. “It was wild!” Rudolph tells Variety. “On top of the excitement I felt, I received so many GIFs that had me laughing: LeBron [James] waiting to get in the game, Roman Roy watching his emails pour in… my phone hasn’t stopped blowing up.”
Yes, when Season 50 premieres on Sept. 28, she is expected to return to “SNL” to play Harris with that too-cool-for-words swagger and confident wink for which she won an Emmy in 2019 and continued to play throughout the 2020 election cycle.
But it was just a couple of days earlier that Rudolph was hit with the first round of good news — she received Emmy noms for hosting “Saturday Night Live” (and one for original music lyrics for the show), voicing Connie the Hormone Monstress on Netflix’s “Big Mouth” and portraying a jaded billionaire on her Apple TV+ show, “Loot.” Four nominations for three different projects in one year? Let’s face it, the woman’s got the gift.
“I believe my reaction was, ‘Holy shit!’” she laughs. “And all for things that are so close to my heart: ‘Loot,’ ‘Big Mouth’ and ‘SNL.’ The best actress nomination is particularly exciting because it’s my first time; that felt really cool! And I’m particularly proud of the song we wrote for my ‘SNL’ [Mother’s Day] monologue. That one just feels like a huge personal achievement. I feel so proud!”
When Rudolph went back to “SNL” to perform on the election shows in 2020, it was during COVID, and she was hit with a personal epiphany. “It cemented an idea that I already knew, which is I really am a live performer, first and foremost. I love to play characters,” she says. “I love to do all kinds of projects — and I hope that never ends — but I think my heart lies in being a live performer, and it’s where I’m my strongest. That’s why I go back to ‘SNL’ so much,” she adds. “It’s just what I love and where my heart soars.”
