‘SNL’ Viewers React to Kamala Harris ‘Family Feud’ Cold Open

Per usual, Saturday Night Live opened with a political cold open during the latest episode, and it seemed to be the best received for Season 50 so far. The SNL cast once again tackled the 2024 U.S. presidential election, parodying candidates Donald Trump (James Austin Johnson) and Kamala Harris (Maya Rudolph). However, instead of a more drab setting, it placed the candidates into an episode of Family Feud, with hilarious results.

Fan reactions seem to be overwhelmingly positive, with onlookers from both sides of the political aisle loving the send-up of the candidates and their allies.

“this was actually good. SNL has missed lately but this is good,” one X user wrote, with another adding, “Hands down, the funniest skit put out by SNL since the Eddie Murphy days!” Over on Instagram, comments included, “That may have been the best SNL skit I’ve ever seen,” “I can’t believe SNL is funny again” and “THAT made me laugh out loud. Thank you SNL!!.”

Even viewers from outside of the U.S. were impressed, with one top TikTok comment reading, “As a non-American, this is what every single rally and debate has looked like, word for word.”

The impressions for the sketch earned the most praise from watchers, especially Dana Carvey’s take on President Joe Biden. Top comments on social posts included, “Can we talk about how Dana Carvey fully morphs into whoever he’s playing every single time,” “dana carvey’s impression is so great,” and “I still think Dana Carvey is the best Biden AND best presidential impersonator in SNL history.”

Based on the social comments, the main critical reactions to the cold open concerned Bowen Yang’s take on JD Vance. The Vance parody didn’t really have much to do in the sketch to begin with, but several viewers chimed in to note that his impression isn’t really hitting the high marks that the other cast members and alums reach. There noticeably wasn’t much chatter about Chloe Fineman’s impression of CNN anchor Kaitlin Collins, but she was only used in the sketch’s framing device and was obviously going to be overshadowed no matter what.

Saturday Night Live Season 50 episodes are now streaming on Peacock, with individual segments also available on YouTube. New episodes air weekly at 11:30 p.m. ET on NBC. The next new episode will feature host Michael Keaton and musical guest Billie Eilish. It’s unclear which special guests will return for the episode, but Rudolph, Carvey, Jim Gaffigan (as VP candidate Tim Walz) and Andy Samberg (playing Second Gentleman Doug Emhoff) have been prominently featured in Season 50 so far.