SNL's most inspired political impressions

Feature by The Skinny | 07 Feb 2017

Following Melissa McCarthy's barnstorming and hilarious take on Donald Trump's volatile Press Secretary, Sean Spicer, we look back at other SNL impressions that have tickled us

As has been the case for the best part of a year now, this weekend's Saturday Night Live was a lively one, filled with biting jokes aimed at Donald Trump’s worrying first few weeks as US President. Not only was host Kristen Stewart slaying The Donald for his bizarre Twitter infatuation with her ex-boyfriend Robert Pattinson and Alec Baldwin, back as Trump, laying into the US’s new President’s bizarre approach to foreign diplomacy (with Death cameoing as Steve Bannon), the most recent episode saw the debut of Melissa McCarthy as Sean Spicer, the White House’s gum chewing, propaganda spewing, perpetually pissed off Press Secretary.

McCarthy was a wonderful choice (and reportedly a humiliating one for Trump – it's been reported he thinks McCarthy's drag act makes him look weak). It’s likely that some of the regular SNL cast members were clamoring for the gig, but no other comic working in America can match to the kind of incandescent rage McCarthy has displayed in film like The Heat and Spy, and which she pours into her performances as an apoplectic Spicer prone to charging the press pen with his lectern when any journalist asks a legitimate question about the current administration's bizarre behaviour. Take a look at her barnstorming performance in the clip below.

Here are some other SNL impressions – both recent and classic – that are similarly inspired:

Alec Baldwin as Donald Trump

SNL regulars Taran Killam and Darrell Hammond both took swings at Trump, playing him as brash, selfish and lecherous during the Republican nomination primaries, which was clearly water off a duck’s back to The Donald. It wasn’t until Alec Baldwin’s interpretation during the Presidential debates against Hillary Clinton, flagging up his incompetence, his limited debating skills, his petulence, his whininess, and his inability to speak so good, that Donald took offence. “Watched Saturday Night Live hit job on me,” he wrote on Twitter. “Time to retire the boring and unfunny show. Alec Baldwin portrayal stinks. Media rigging election.” Which, of course, means Baldwin’s impression has now become an SNL staple.

Kate McKinnon as Hillary Clinton

Amy Poehler gave a great Clinton, but SNL’s current MVP Kate McKinnon’s crystalline portrayal is both accurate and cutting. While McKinnon clearly has affection for Clinton (as the famous Hallelujah performance following her election defeat proves), she was never afraid to highlight the lack of humility and desperation to be president. McKinnon’s accuracy clearly made Clinton uncomfortable. "Watching Kate McKinnon play me on SNL is like an out-of-body experience,” Clinton told Rookie. “Some of what she does is, at times, a little too close for comfort.”

Kate McKinnon as Kellyanne Conway

Of the many downsides to Donald Trump winning the Presidency, the fact that we’re going to see a lot less of McKinnon’s Clinton is one comedy fans are lamenting. On the flipside, however, it’s given McKinnon the opportunity to get her teeth into playing Trump’s slippery campaign manager turned White House counselor Kellyanne Conway. We particularly love sketch A Day Off, in which we see an overworked Conway have her day of Kellyanne-time (roller skating, bubble bath) be constantly interrupted to go on the news and fight the fires caused by Trump’s latest Twitter outbursts. Given that Conway has become even more of a machiavellian manipulator since Trump came to office (going so far as to invent terrorist attacks to spin stories), expect this impression to sharpen considerably.

Tina Fey as Sarah Palin

Tina Fey as then-Governor of Alaska Sarah Palin and VP candidate during the 2008 US election was so eerily good that it takes you a good few seconds to differentiate the simulacra from the real thing. The SNL writers didn’t even need to do all that much with the sketches: just hand Fey the transcripts and let her Palin fly. It turned into a memorable election, with Obama emerging as one of them most adored Presidents of the modern era, but Fey’s skewering of Palin’s airheaded ignorance surely gave Obama’s campaign an added boost and helped put the kibosh on Palin’s political ambitions.

Will Ferrell as George W Bush

Ferrell brings a lot of warmth to his merciless ribbing of Dubya, playing him as a dunderheaded rich kid frat boy who thinks of himself as a cowboy. His impression isn’t accurate, per se, but he captures the overall vibe of Bush perfectly – the malapropisms, the laid-back confidence despite not having a clue what he was doing, the lack of shame at his ineptitude. Ferrell clearly relished doing the performance too, so much so that after Bush left office he was inspired to write Welcome America. A Final Night with George W Bush, a Broadway play centred on the character.