The 53-year-old broadcaster, who will leave BBC Newsnight in 2022, was speaking to SNP Westminster leader Stephen Flynn from the Channel 4 studio following the Scottish party’s disappointing poll results.
Speaking via video link from a stone-throwing rally in Aberdeen, Flynn, who was elected for Aberdeen South, told Maitlis the SNP needed to “find a way forward” if it was to regain trust.
Maitlis responded by saying, “You look like you’re in a graveyard, I mean, is this a metaphor?”
His co-presenter Krishnan Guru-Murthy, who regularly presents Channel 4’s news coverage, began laughing at the comment while touching the front of his head.
Flynn said: “It’s the BBC broadcasting the gardens, but I don’t want to cast any doubt on anything… It’s quite beautiful.”
Guru-Murthy intervened and said, “It’s the same thing.”
Then Maitlis seemed to laugh as she put her head in her hands and Guru-Murthy continued to laugh.
Mr Flynn appeared to joke that he could be “Channel 4”, before saying: “It’s been a very difficult night.”
The SNP lost dozens of MPs in the general election, dropping from 48 to just nine, with Inverness, Skye and West Ross-shire still to declare in Scotland.
Maitlis, who famously interviewed the Duke of York for Newsnight, left the BBC to start a global podcast called The News Agents, which she presents alongside former BBC journalists Jon Sopel and Lewis Goodall.
She was recently portrayed by American actress Gillian Anderson in the Netflix film Scoop and will be portrayed in the Prime Video show A Very Royal Scandal, executive produced by Maitlis, by British actress Ruth Wilson.
