From Harris to Trump to Clinton, these are the US politicians who ...

Kamala Harris has become the latest in a long line of US presidential candidates to appear on US sketch show Saturday Night Live in an effort to show their lighter side.

A clip of Ms Harris playing herself alongside Maya Rudolph, who frequently impersonates her, has attracted millions of views since their sketch went to air over the weekend.

Satirising political figures has been a Saturday Night Live (SNL) hallmark for the 50 years the show has been running.

Republican and Democratic presidential candidates and US politicians have appeared on the show in an attempt to win over voters.

Let's take a look back at some of the most memorable and criticised appearances by US political figures.

While Donald Trump hasn't appeared on the show during this year's campaign, he is no stranger to the SNL stage.

In 2015, when he was the frontrunner to be the Republican candidate for the 2016 election, Trump hosted SNL.

During his monologue, he spoke of his intention to become US president and poked fun at SNL cast members' impressions of him.

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

Demonstrators protest against Donald Trump's views on immigration hours before he hosts Saturday Night Live. (AP: Katie Park)

The New York Times criticised his appearance as "unfunny and cringeworthy".

In 2017, former SNL cast member Taran Killam, who appeared alongside Trump in his monologue, called the former president's appearance "embarrassing and shameful".

"It was not enjoyable at the time and something that only grows more embarrassing and shameful as time goes on," he said.

However, Trump's appearance drew close to 10 million views.

Trump also appeared in 2004.

In 2016, the frontrunner for the Democratic presidential nomination, Hillary Clinton, appeared on the season opener of Saturday Night Live.

But not as herself.

Most political candidates play themselves often for just a cameo in a sketch or to declare the show's famous tagline: "Live from New York, it's Saturday night."

Instead, Ms Clinton played Val the bartender in a sketch opposite resident SNL Clinton impersonator Kate McKinnon.

The skit poked gentle fun at Ms Clinton's slow opposition to the Keystone pipeline, her late-arriving support of same-sex marriage and her inability to take a holiday.

As Val, Ms Clinton also did an impression of Trump with a hoarse rendition of his statement, "Uh, you're all losers," prompting McKinnon to break into laughter.

Time Magazine said Ms Clinton played "the very role that her campaign has sought for months to cast her as: a real person".

"The appearance poked fun at the problems that have nagged Clinton the most during her campaign, and highlighted some of her candidate's strengths."

It was Ms Clinton's second appearance on SNL.

She previously participated in a sketch during a 2008 episode when Amy Poehler was tasked with impersonating her.

Barack Obama was still just a Democratic presidential candidate when he appeared on SNL in 2007.

The sketch featured Poehler and Darrell Hammond as Bill and Hillary Clinton hosting a Halloween party.

Mr Obama entered towards the end of the sketch, wearing a mask of himself.

"I have nothing to hide," Mr Obama said.

"I enjoy being myself. I'm not going to change who I am just because it's Halloween."

Meanwhile, as Ms Clinton, Amy Poehler wore a white bridal gown but was mocked in the skit by a fake Bill Clinton who was calling it a witch's outfit.

The New York Times said Mr Obama's few lines in the skit echoed his refrain that he was "more genuine than Mrs Clinton".

The skit was dissected on the internet, with many people applauding its wit, but some suggested it was too gentle on Mr Obama.

The episode also almost included a controversial sketch about racial profiling on airplanes until the presidential hopeful turned down the idea.

Then-Republican vice-presidential candidate and Alaskan governor Sarah Palin, who was famously parodied by Tina Fey, appeared on the show in October 2008.

Ms Palin was John McCain's running mate in the 2008 US election which was won by Barack Obama and Joe Biden.

Ms Palin first featured in the show's opening sequence which showed her telling creator Lorne Michaels she was not impressed by Fey's constant impersonations of her during her campaign.

During the sketch, she was mistaken for Fey by Alec Baldwin, who joked she was "way hotter in person" and laughed about her nickname "Caribou Barbie".

Later in the show, she joined Amy Poehler and Seth Meyers for the Weekend Update sketch, where she bopped along to a rap song she joked she was not going to perform herself due to worries "it might just cross the line".

Poehler got up and performed the rap instead.

Her appearance was seen by more than 14 million people, the largest audience for SNL since 1994.

The New York Times said the appearance showed "she had a sense of humour at a time when the country is still debating whether to take her seriously as a potential commander in chief".

In April 1976, then-president Gerald Ford appeared alongside his press secretary Ron Nessen, who hosted the show after much deliberation.

Ron Nessen (left) and Chevy Chase, who is impersonating Gerald Ford in a Saturday Night Live sketch in 1976.  (Getty Images: File)

Less than a year after the show first premiered, Ford became the first president to appear on SNL and utter the famous phrase: "Live from New York, it's Saturday Night!"

Time Magazine, which called the episode the one that "changed American politics", said after taking over from president Richard Nixon following the Watergate scandal, Mr Ford and his secretary's appearance was an effort to change perceptions of his administration.

Mr Nessen, who even played himself in an opening sketch with Chevy Chase, said he wanted to host the show to prove "that this administration has a sense of humour".

Former US president Gerald Ford was criticised for his appearance on SNL.  (Getty Images: File)

In Nessen's memoir, It Sure Looks Different from the Inside, he said reviews were "not kind" and many told him appearing on the show was a "gross error of judgment".

Despite the criticisms levelled at the president and press secretary at the time, a long list of US political figures followed in their footsteps.

Longtime Arizona senator and two-time presidential candidate John McCain, who died at age 81 in 2017, took to the SNL stage several times.

In 2002 he became the first sitting senator to ever host SNL.

He appeared again in 2008, during the midst of his presidential campaign.

Throughout the bit, McCain unveiled new strategies to beat his opponent Barack Obama in the polls.

The Washington Post said his "sense of humour shined through" especially when he suggested his "Sad Grandpa" strategy.

"I ask you, what should we be looking for in our next president? Certainly, someone who is very, very, very old."

This episode was the highest-rating season finale in three years, NBC said.

But McCain did not stop there.

Three days before the presidential election that year, he returned alongside Tina Fey as his much-mocked running mate Sarah Palin.

Sarah Palin and John McCain in 2010. (Reuters: Joshua Lott)

Off the back of Mr Obama's expensive 30-minute campaign ad, Mr McCain and Fey poked fun at his presidential campaign's financial shortcomings with painful honesty.

"I'm a true maverick, a Republican without money," he said.

"This past Wednesday, Barack Obama purchased airtime on three major networks.

"We, however, can only afford QVC."

QVC is an American cable shopping network.