Steve Martin turns down offer from Lorne Michaels to play Kamala Harris’ VP pick Tim Walz on ‘SNL’: ‘I’d be struggling’
Steve Martin won’t be playing Tim Walz on season 50 of “SNL” despite fans outright begging him to do so.
Martin spoke with the late night sketch show’s creator and producer Lorne Michaels after news broke that Kamala Harris chose the Minnesota governor and Martin look-alike as her vice presidential running mate but “politely and promptly” turned him down, according to The Los Angeles Times.
“I wanted to say no and, by the way, he wanted me to say no,” Martin said of his call with Michaels.
“I said, ‘Lorne, I’m not an impressionist. You need someone who can really nail the guy.’ I was picked because I have gray hair and glasses.”
The time commitment required to play a character like Walz — who would likely be recurring through the start of the season — was also a factor in Martin’s decision.
“It’s ongoing,” he explained. “It’s not like you do it once and get applause and never do it again. Again, they need a real impressionist to do that. They’re gonna find somebody really, really good. I’d be struggling.”
News of Martin turning down the “SNL” gig comes the same day as the funnyman posted a joke on Threads, winking at the resemblance between him and Walz.
“I just learned that Tim Walz wants to go on the road with Marty Short,” he wrote.
Martin and his “Only Murders in the Building” co-star Martin Short are currently in the middle of their “Dukes of Funnytown” tour.
The tour may have been another contributing factor in Martin’s decision to pass on the chance to play Walz, given that he and Short have already booked shows on several weekends between the season premiere of “SNL” on September 28 and election day on November 5.
Martin and Short being on the road could also create one more hiccup in the sketch show’s fall casting, given that Short previously played Vice President Harris’ husband, Doug Emhoff, in 2021.
Should Lorne Michaels reach out to Short, and should Short want to reprise his role as Emhoff, he would only have a handful of Saturdays available before election day that wouldn’t conflict with his and Martin’s tour — but one of those dates does happen to be Season 50’s opening night on September 28.
Short was a former cast member on the tenth season of “SNL,” appearing in episodes from 1984 to 1985. Martin, on the other hand, was never a salaried cast member, but he has hosted the show 16 times, second only to Alec Baldwin, who has hosted on 17 separate Saturdays.
Martin first hosted “Saturday Night Live” in 1976.
Though fans won’t get to see Martin’s take on Tim Walz, Maya Rudolph will be back as Kamala Harris, according to Deadline.
Pre-production on her Apple TV+ series “Loot” has been pushed due to “scheduling reasons,” which, reading between the lines, strongly hints that Rudolph will be busy this fall with a different TV show.
All eyes will likely now turn to other potential contenders to play Walz. Social media has already thrown out some names, including Jim O’Heir from “Parks and Rec,” John Goodman, Jim Gaffigan, and even Danny DeVito.
What say you, Lorne?
