Steve Martin Pokes Fun at Calls for Him to Play Tim Walz on ‘SNL’
Well, they both have white hair. That seems to be all it takes for Saturday Night Live fans like Lost’s Damon Lindelof to suggest Steve Martin as the perfect comic to play vice presidential candidate Tim Walz to Maya Rudolph’s Kamala Harris.
Martin, who has appeared on SNL a jaw-dropping 35 times including 16 hosting stints over the years, is a surefire bet to show up at least once during Season 50. Will he suit up as Walz? Or will Walz take over as Steve Martin?
“I just learned that Tim Walz wants to go on the road with Marty Short,” Martin joked last night on his Threads account.
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It’s not crazy to think that Martin could get drafted to play the political personality. Lorne Michaels has brought in non-cast members to play politicos plenty of times before, from Rudolph to Alec Baldwin’s Donald Trump to Tina Fey’s Sarah Palin. In recent years, SNL has leaned even harder into political stunt casting with stars like Larry David (Bernie Sanders), Melissa McCarthy (Sean Spicer) and Brad Pitt (Anthony Fauci).
But there’s good reason to think Martin won’t be dropping by on the regular. For that, you can blame “going on the road with Marty.” Martin and Short have several fall dates on their Dukes of Funnytown tour that would seem to conflict with SNL, including multiple Saturday gigs in September, October and November. Not every Saturday is booked but give Martin a break — at 78 years old, there’s a reason he’s left a couple of weekends free.
If Martin’s schedule won’t allow him to do multiple cameos, another former SNL cast member has raised their hand. Once again, the qualifier for the job seems to be “has white hair.”
The Hollywood Reporter rounded up other Twitter/X suggestions for who might portray Walz on SNL, including Danny DeVito, Tom Arnold, Bradley Whitford, Jim Gaffigan, Parks and Recreation’s Jim O’Heir, Bill Murray, Kyle Chandler, Drew Carey, John Goodman and fellow Minnesotan Al Franken.
Any of those suggestions could probably work but comedian Paul Scheer has the most radical idea of all: