Harris joins the line of politicians appearing on 'Saturday Night Live'

Kamala Harris' appearance on "Saturday Night Live," a late surprise by the Democratic presidential candidate in her race against Republican Donald Trump, follows in the footsteps of past candidates, including Trump himself.

In October 2015, then-Secretary of State Hillary Clinton appeared on the NBC-TV comedy and political satire show as she was preparing to engage in a string of Democratic primaries early the following year.

Playing a bartender, Clinton was told by an SNL cast member that she was "really easy to talk to." Clinton, in character, responded, "That's the first time I've ever heard that" - a dig at her reputation for appearing icy in public.

Democratic presidential nominee and U.S. Vice President Kamala Harris reacts next to Maya Rudolph as she makes an appearance on Saturday Night Live in New York City, U.S., November 2, 2024. Reuters

The following month, the long-running late-night show gave equal time to Trump, who would beat Clinton in the 2016 election, appearing in a sketch looking ahead two years into a White House term.

"I don't have to get specific" about policy, the future Trump said in a riff about his lack of experience in politics and governance.

Trump's daughter, Ivanka Trump, later landed a high-level White House job during her father's presidency and played his interior secretary in real life. She said the Washington Monument was now blanketed in gold-mirrored glass, mocking her father's penchant for opulence.

FILE PHOTO: Businessman Donald Trump and wife Melania Trump arrive for the 40th Anniversary Saturday Night Live (SNL) broadcast in the Manhattan Borough of New York February 15, 2015.REUTERS/Carlo Allegri/File Photo

While the sketch got some laughs, it prompted outrage from Latino activists who protested what they called Trump's racist views on immigration.

And then there was former Republican vice-presidential candidate Sarah Palin, who appeared on a 40th anniversary SNL show in 2015 at a time when there was speculation that she was mulling a White House run - only to claim on the show that she would consider Trump as her vice-presidential running mate.

The fiction failed to become fact, as Palin never joined the presidential race.

SNL separately hosted both Democratic candidate Barack Obama and Republican candidate John McCain in 2008.