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Maya Rudolph’s 17 Best SNL Moments
The powerhouse who proved that SNL be kind of a calling in and of itself returns to studio 8H this weekend.
In their overlapping years, it’s a delight to see them develop a kinship over a clear shared love of a few specific character types, including elderly couples (whether romantic or platonic, as seen in “Buyer Beware” in season 32, episode eight) and brassy singers whose exuberance may outmatch their actual talent. So it feels appropriate to instead honor a piece of sui generis, all-purpose Maya pop parody: her single sketch as fictional diva-in-waiting Pamela Bell, who wins a contest to perform the National Anthem at the World Series and isn’t about to throw away her shot by undersinging. Her extended work in this (admittedly overlong) VP debate sketch may strike some as too cutesy by half, but Rudolph proves unsurprisingly adept at the ideal style of SNL political impression, which starts with some vocal mannerisms (pronouncing Joe Biden as “JuhBiden”) and caricatures them into a whole new thing.
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