17-02-2025
‘SNL' Seeing Double: 29 Celebs Who Shared the Stage With Their Own Impersonators
If there's one thing you can rely on 'Saturday Night Live' for, it's delivering good celebrity impressions. Some are so good, in fact, that they draw the actual celebrity into a sketch with them.
Most recently, it happened when then-Vice President Kamala Harris stopped by just before the 2024 election to give Maya Rudolph's version of Kamala Harris a pep talk. But this is a tradition that goes back literal decades. So, we rounded up each one we could find.
You can relive them below.
During the 'SNL50' celebration, the show brought back 'Black Jeopardy,' featuring Leslie Jones, Tracy Morgan and Eddie Murphy as contestants. Of course, Eddie Murphy was actually playing Tracy Morgan.
Like we mentioned above, Kamala Harris made a surprise stop at 30 Rock just days before the 2024 election, giving her fake self, as well as the country at large, a pep talk. Her advice at the time? Be prepared to 'keep calm-ala and carry on-ala.'
Kate McKinnon had a slew of political impressions in her tool belt, and one of them was of Senator Elizabeth Warren. Warren delighted fans when she stopped by for a sketch, but what went even more viral was the two women participating in the 'flipped the switch' trend on social media. You can relive that one here.
Like we said, Kate McKinnon could impersonate a lot of politicians. But before she took over as Hillary Clinton, the duty went to Amy Poehler. And, back in 2013, the two appeared in a sketch together.
That said, Clinton also showed up for Kate McKinnon's version of her too. Back in 2015, the real Clinton played a bartender with a comforting shoulder and a listening ear for the fake McKinnon.
Sometimes celebs show up in sketches to confront the 'SNL' cast member impersonating them, and such was the case with Jennifer Aniston. She popped in on Weekend Update to tell Vanessa Bayer that her impression was a bit lazy.
'Get in the Cage' was a recurring bit on Weekend Update in which Andy Samberg played Nicolas Cage and interviewed various real celebrities, as themselves. It seems only natural that eventually the real Nicolas Cage would show up, right?
The real Zooey Deschanel showed up in a sketch hosted by Abby Elliott as Zooey Deschanel, but the real actress wasn't playing herself. Instead, she was playing one of the Olsen twins.
Ego Nwodim has become a beloved 'SNL' cast member for multiple characters — Lisa from Temecula chief among them — but her Dionne Warwick impression has gone viral multiple times. Eventually, the real Dionne Warwick showed up to be interviewed by her fake self in a sketch.
Jim Carrey didn't technically confront himself on 'SNL,' but his whole 'family.' Still, it was basically the entire cast doing their best impressions of various Carrey characters. So we're counting it.
Sarah Palin didn't really interact with the Tina Fey version of her on 'SNL' — in fact, Fey kind of went running when she was informed by Alec Baldwin that the real woman was there — but still, the two were in a sketch together!
You can add George H.W. Bush to the list of politicians who showed up on 'SNL' to voice his discontent with the cast member impersonating him. In this case, it was Dana Carvey. You can watch the cold open here.
Like Zooey Deschanel, Dave Matthews was playing someone else entirely when he appeared on 'The Mellow Show' sketch. But in that same segment, Bill Hader was playing Dave Matthews. You can watch it in the video above.
Vanessa Bayer played Miley Cyrus multiple times over on 'SNL,' with a recurring sketch called 'The Miley Cyrus Show.' Cyrus herself even appeared on it — as Justin Bieber. But eventually, the real Cyrus got to confront her 'old self' directly, which you can watch above.
This wasn't technically a sketch, but the real Joe Cocker did perform with Jim Belushi's version of Joe Cocker, and the resemblance remains uncanny, decades later.
Like Jim Carrey, Adam Sandler faced the entire cast of 'SNL' doing their impressions of various characters of his at a fake family reunion. The sketch included Jimmy Fallon, Pete Davidson and more.
Alex Trebek showed up during a 'Celebrity Jeopardy!' sketch alongside Will Ferrell's Alex Trebek, and immediately began mocking the lack of knowledge those fake celebrities had.
In yet another family reunion sketch, the real Christopher Walken embraced multiple cast members impersonating him as members of his family. Even Kristen Wiig had a Walken impression.
Will Ferrell regularly played Janet Reno on 'SNL,' and in the final episode of 'Janet Reno's Dance Party,' the actual Reno showed up — by busting through the wall. You can watch it here.
'SNL' enjoys having celebrities talk to themselves in the mirror, and that's exactly how Mick Jagger came face to face with Jimmy Fallon's Mick Jagger on the show.
Yes, even Stevie Wonder got to hang out with his 'SNL' counterpart. He appeared in a sketch with Eddie Murphy way back in the day.
Weekend Update has proven to be a prime segment to have celebrities face the 'SNL' versions of them, and that's where Jerry Seinfeld met Jimmy Fallon's Jerry Seinfeld. In fact, they debated each other!
The real Barry Gibb made an appearance on 'The Barry Gibb Talk Show,' where Jimmy Fallon played the Bee Gees singer alongside Justin Timberlake.
The real Judge Judy showed up in a sketch to boot Sheri Oteri's Judge Judy out of her seat. You can watch the sketch here.
That time Pesci and De Niro crashed the Joe Pesci Show byu/SirFratlus inLiveFromNewYork
If an 'SNL' cast member has a fake talk show where they host as a celebrity, you can pretty much bet that the actual celeb will show up at some point. Joe Pesci did it to Jim Breuer, which you can watch here.
Like we said, if an 'SNL' cast member is hosting a show as a celeb, the celeb will almost always appear. In this case, it was Tony Bennett meeting Alec Baldwin's Tony Bennett.
Dana Carvey played Robin Williams's son in one sketch, in which he gave his very best impression of Williams's character from 'Mork and Mindy.'
For Michael J. Fox's cold open, he did a 'Back to the Future' bit where both Dana Carvey and David Spade impersonated the actor.
Bob Dole showed up to tell Norm Macdonald that his impression of him was actually more of an impression of Dan Aykroyd doing an impression of Bob Dole. But it does count!
The post 'SNL' Seeing Double: 29 Celebs Who Shared the Stage With Their Own Impersonators appeared first on TheWrap.
