SNL mocks ‘vibing’ JD Vance and Tim Walz in spoof of mild VP debate

Just days after Senator JD Vance and Minnesota Governor Tim Walz faced off in the first and only vice presidential debate on 2024, the two candidates were back at it again on Saturday night… sort of.

Saturday Night Live’s cold open sketch on October 5 featured a parody of thematchup, with cast member Bowen Yang cast as Vance and guest Jim Gaffigan turning as Walz.

The show kicked off with the “candidates” finding awkward common ground during the “gotcha” portion of the debate.

Yang’s Vance was asked if he regretted calling Donald Trump “America’s Hitler,” to which he replied that the context was important, as he meant it as a “compliment.” Gaffigan’s Walz complimented the Republican for “having an answer for everything.” Fake Vance smiled at fake Walz, leaving the moderator deeply uncomfortable.

“I’m not sure why you two are connecting, but let’s move on,” Heidi Gardner’s Norah O’Donnell said.

The faux Walz was then asked why he said he was in Hong Kong during the 1989 Tiananmen Square protests.

Gaffigan provided a reasonable answer.

“So I think what happened was I went to Epcot,” he replied. A few too many drinks in the German portion led the fake Walz to mistakenly think he’d wandered to China.

After another moment of tender connection occurs between the parody Vance and Walz — then triggering a snippet of the Top Gun love ballad “Take My Breath Away” while they reach out to each other — the scene cuts to Maya Rudolph’s Vice President Kamala Harris spitting her wine and asking “why are they friends?”

“Why are you vibing?” she asks.

Dana Carvey’s Joe Biden — losing track of his thoughts and spouting catch phrases — joined Rudloph before the sketch cut back to the debate, where the candidates were asked about