Saturday Night Live Reveals First Look at Jim Carrey as Joe Biden

Saturday Night Live‘s 46th season is set to kick off this weekend, and viewers are excited to see how the long-running comedy series lampoons our current moment. As was revealed last month, that parody will include appearances from iconic comedic actor Jim Carrey, who will be portraying former Vice President and current Democratic presidential candidate Joe Biden in the series’ new episodes. Ahead of Saturday’s premiere, SNL’s official Twitter account just showcased what Carrey’s performance as Biden will entail. In a brief teaser video, which you can check out below, Carrey and Maya Rudolph get into costume as Biden as his running mate, Kamala Harris.

Carrey’s casting on the series was met with quite a lot of chatter when it was announced in mid-September, with fans divided about whether or not he was the best possible pick for to play Biden. This teaser video is sure to further fuel that debate, especially between now and Saturday’s episode. Biden was previously portrayed by Jason Sudeikis and Woody Harrelson on earlier incarnations of the series.

“There was some interest on his part. And then we responded, obviously, positively. But it came down to discussions about what the take was,” executive producer Lorne Michaels said of casting Carrey to play Biden. “He and Colin Jost had a bunch of talks. He and I as well. He will give the part energy and strength, and … [Laughs.] Hopefully it’s funny.”

Carrey’s arrival on the series isn’t the only change that SNL will have this season, as the series will film in front of a limited live audience, even as the COVID-19 pandemic continues on.

“We need the audience, obviously. With comedy, when you don’t hear the response, it’s just different. With the kind of comedy we do, which quite often is broad, timing gets thrown off without an audience,” Michaels explained. “And for me, what is most important is when you’re absolutely certain of some piece on Wednesday, and then the dress-rehearsal audience sees it on Saturday and tells you you’re wrong. . . .I think us coming back and accomplishing the show will lead to — I hate to use the word normalcy — but it’s a thing that is part of our lives coming back, in whatever form it ends up coming back. So the physical problems of doing it — number of people who can be in the studio, number of people who can be in the control room, how you separate the band so that they’re not in any jeopardy — all of those are part of the meetings we’ve been having”