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‘Saturday Night Live’ Cold Open Stings Herschel Walker With His Own Words As He Faces Georgia Senate Runoff

Ted Johnson
·2 min read
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The Saturday Night Live cold open used Herschel Walker’s own slip ups and bizarre words against him to skewer his Senate bid, as the Republican Senate candidate in Georgia faces off against Democrat Raphael Warnock.

In real life, Walker’s post-Election Day runoff has been marked by his comments about vampires and werewolves, as well as a slip-up that was a bit Freudian given the allegations and revelations that have emerged since the football star entered the political arena.

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In the skit, Walker (Kenan Thompson) is visiting the office of Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell (James Austin Johnson), as he and other colleagues are anxious for any kind of win after Republican hopes of retaking the majority were dashed in the most recent midterms. But the seasoned politicians have to contend with a candidate, Walker, who seems to be testing how much voters will accept when it comes to lack of qualifications. In the skit, Walker first refers to McConnell as “Mitch McDonalds.”

Sen. Marsha Blackburn (Cecily Strong) tells Walker, “The priority now is to get out the vote because you have got this big runoff coming up.”

Walker responds, “Oh, well, I am good at those. My ex wife said all I do is run off.”

At one point, Walker tells McConnell & co., “I’m feeling very confident about this erection.”

“You mean, election?” McConnell asks him.

“I do not,” Walker responds.

Walker really did have such a slip up on the campaign trail. And later in the skit, the SNL writers took aim at Walker’s reference to vampires and werewolves in a campaign speech, something that Warnock’s campaign has used in campaign ads.

“Maybe in the final push, let’s lay low and focus on the message,” Blackburn tells Walker.

“Exactly. Just like Kanye,” Walker responds.

“No. No. The issues people care about — inflation, crime,” Blackburn says.

“Vampires, werewolves. They’re scared of the Geico gecko. We’re going to be looking at all of that,” Walker tells her.

As Walker goes on, McConnell eventually comes up with his Hail Mary pass — a “Plan B.” That is to get Walker into his “panic room.” “It’s all yours, just until Election Day. … Got everything you need in there.”

“It’s only for a few days,” McConnell tells him, before the skit ended, rather abruptly.

Thompson appeared as Walker and Johnson as McConnell earlier this season during a Weekend Update segment. This time, in using some of Walker’s own words, the skit had some shades to the pre-2008 SNL election skit featuring Tina Fey as Sarah Palin. That skit using some of Palin’s real comments from a disastrous CBS News interview with Katie Couric, reinforcing concerns that the GOP vice presidential nominee was not qualified for the job.

Watch the skit above.

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