US Vice-President Kamala Harris wrapped a day on the campaign trail on Saturday with a surprise appearance on Saturday Night Live, mocking her presidential election rival Donald Trump on the sketch show.

Appearing in the long-running series’s “cold open” – the sketch before the opening titles – Harris appeared as her own reflection in a dressing room mirror, joining in good-natured mockery of her laughter and playing on her own name for laughs.

Harris, who was appearing on SNL for the first time, has been portrayed by Maya Rudolph as “America’s fun aunt’ – an interpretation that Harris herself has proudly shared on social media and gushed about on TV.

The New York studio broke into raucous applause as Harris came on screen and immediately began making fun of Trump’s recent photo op in a garbage truck, after he almost fell over as he was trying to get into it.

“I’m here to remind you, you got this because you can do something you cannot do – you can open doors,” Harris joked.