Maya Rudolph Finally Explains Why Her ‘SNL’ Sketch With Obama Was Cut

Maya Rudolph is finally lifting the curtain on one of “Saturday Night Live”’s most mysterious near-misses, and it involves a never-aired sketch featuring Barack Obama himself. During the December 11, 2025, episode of Amy Poehler’s “Good Hang” podcast, the “SNL” alum opened up about the first time she met the former president, recalling an ambitious sketch planned for the 2007 season that was quietly scrapped after dress rehearsal.

According to Rudolph, the original plan was for her, Poehler, Darrell Hammond, and Obama to appear together in a Halloween-themed sketch during season 33.

Poehler and Hammond were set to play Hillary and Bill Clinton at a party, while Rudolph would enter dressed as Obama, capitalizing on the fact that Obama masks were everywhere at the time as he emerged as a fresh political figure. “I remember Barack was new on the scene, looking smooth,” Rudolph said on the podcast. “And at that time, I think Barack Obama masks were popular, because he was the new candidate.”

The punchline hinged on the reveal that Rudolph would announce herself as Obama, only for the real Obama to tap her on the shoulder, remove his mask, and surprise everyone. “So the joke was going to be that I come in like, ‘I’m Barack Obama!’ and then he taps me on the shoulder with his mask and takes the mask off and he goes, ‘Oh my God, it’s the real Barack Obama,’” she explained.

The sketch was slated to open the fourth episode of the season, but it never made it past dress rehearsal.

“We did that at dress,” Rudolph said bluntly. “And that was it. We did not do it at air. Thank God.”

Even Poehler seemed unclear about why the sketch was pulled, asking on the podcast, “Why? Do we know why?”

Rudolph admitted the issue came down to one thing. She simply didn’t have a handle on Obama yet. “I mean, I did not have a take on Barack Obama at all,” she said, noting that she had met him for the first time just moments before they were supposed to walk onstage.

Rudolph vividly recalled standing backstage in costume, complete with a Brooks Brothers suit, bound chest, and a Scott Joplin wig, when she finally crossed paths with Obama. “I remember the first time we saw each other was when we were about to walk out onstage,” she said.

Trying to break the ice, she asked Obama what he thought of the sketch. His response? “All he said to me was, ‘I don’t wear a three-button suit,’” Rudolph laughed. “I still don’t know what that means. That’s like a guy knowledge thing.”

While the scrapped sketch has become part of “Saturday Night Live” lore, Obama’s relationship with the show didn’t end there. Over the years, he made several memorable appearances, both in person and through impressions, that helped cement his pop culture footprint.

Obama first appeared on “SNL” in 2007 while still a U.S. senator, joining Poehler’s Hillary Clinton and Darrell Hammond’s Bill Clinton in a Halloween party sketch. In the moment, he removed a mask to reveal himself and delivered the now-famous line, “I have nothing to hide.”

Throughout his presidential run and time in office, Obama was frequently portrayed on the show. Fred Armisen initially took on the role during Obama’s early political rise, with Jay Pharoah later stepping in for many of the presidency-era sketches, becoming one of the show’s most recognizable impressions of the former commander-in-chief.

After securing his re-election in 2013, Obama returned to “SNL” for a “Weekend Update” appearance, where he poked fun at his second term, joking that he felt energized and had “nothing to lose.”

Years after helping shape “SNL”’s political comedy, Rudolph found herself stepping back onto the stage for a very different reason. Hope.

Rudolph revealed that returning to “Saturday Night Live” to portray then–Vice President Kamala Harris allowed her to feel something she hadn’t experienced in years as the 2024 election approached. Speaking with Poehler during a live taping of her “Good Hang” podcast at Los Angeles’ Fonda Theatre earlier this month, the actress admitted that embodying Harris came with a surprising emotional weight.

“Especially because she came to the show, that electricity alone just propelled this idea of, I’m going to allow myself to be hopeful,” Rudolph said. “I hadn’t felt hope in a very long time when it came to this subject, and she made me feel hopeful.”

In the end, that never-aired Obama sketch may be something fans only hear about now, but Rudolph’s revelation shows how much of comedy comes down to timing and being willing to take a risk.