Maya Rudolph is lastly lifting the curtain on one in all “Saturday Night time Dwell”’s most mysterious near-misses, and it includes a never-aired sketch that includes Barack Obama himself. Throughout the December 11, 2025, episode of Amy Poehler’s “Good Hold” podcast, the “SNL” alum opened up in regards to the first time she met the previous president, recalling an bold sketch deliberate for the 2007 season that was quietly scrapped after gown rehearsal.

In keeping with Rudolph, the unique plan was for her, Poehler, Darrell Hammond, and Obama to look collectively in a Halloween-themed sketch throughout season 33.

Poehler and Hammond had been set to play Hillary and Invoice Clinton at a celebration, whereas Rudolph would enter dressed as Obama, capitalizing on the truth that Obama masks had been in all places on the time as he emerged as a contemporary political determine. “I bear in mind Barack was new on the scene, wanting easy,” Rudolph stated on the podcast. “And at the moment, I believe Barack Obama masks had been in style, as a result of he was the brand new candidate.”

The punchline hinged on the reveal that Rudolph would announce herself as Obama, just for the true Obama to faucet her on the shoulder, take away his masks, and shock everybody. “So the joke was going to be that I are available in like, ‘I’m Barack Obama!’ after which he faucets me on the shoulder along with his masks and takes the masks off and he goes, ‘Oh my God, it’s the true Barack Obama,’” she defined.

The sketch was slated to open the fourth episode of the season, however it by no means made it previous gown rehearsal.

“We did that at gown,” Rudolph stated bluntly. “And that was it. We didn’t do it at air. Thank God.”

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

Rudolph admitted the difficulty got here down to 1 factor. She merely didn’t have a deal with on Obama but. “I imply, I didn’t have a tackle Barack Obama in any respect,” she stated, noting that she had met him for the primary time simply moments earlier than they had been presupposed to stroll onstage.

Rudolph vividly recalled standing backstage in costume, full with a Brooks Brothers swimsuit, certain chest, and a Scott Joplin wig, when she lastly crossed paths with Obama. “I bear in mind the primary time we noticed one another was once we had been about to stroll out onstage,” she stated.

Attempting to interrupt the ice, she requested Obama what he considered the sketch. His response? “All he stated to me was, ‘I don’t put on a three-button swimsuit,’” Rudolph laughed. “I nonetheless don’t know what meaning. That’s like a man data factor.”

Whereas the scrapped sketch has turn into a part of “Saturday Night time Dwell” lore, Obama’s relationship with the present didn’t finish there. Over time, he made a number of memorable appearances, each in particular person and thru impressions, that helped cement his popular culture footprint.

Obama first appeared on “SNL” in 2007 whereas nonetheless a U.S. senator, becoming a member of Poehler’s Hillary Clinton and Darrell Hammond’s Invoice Clinton in a Halloween get together sketch. Within the second, he eliminated a masks to disclose himself and delivered the now-famous line, “I’ve nothing to cover.”

All through his presidential run and time in workplace, Obama was continuously portrayed on the present. Fred Armisen initially took on the position throughout Obama’s early political rise, with Jay Pharoah later stepping in for lots of the presidency-era sketches, turning into one of many present’s most recognizable impressions of the previous commander-in-chief.

After securing his re-election in 2013, Obama returned to “SNL” for a “Weekend Replace” look, the place he poked enjoyable at his second time period, joking that he felt energized and had “nothing to lose.”