Alec Baldwin returns to SNL, but Melissa McCarthy steals show as Sean Spicer
Bridesmaids actress makes surprise appearance playing angry White House press secretary
Alec Baldwin returned to Saturday Night Live with his recurring impersonation of Donald Trump, but it was Melissa McCarthy's rendition of White House press secretary Sean Spicer that stole the show.
With help from SNL's makeup department, the Ghostbusters actress made a surprise appearance as the communications staffer, combative and worked up as he speaks to the press gallery.
"I would like to begin today by apologizing on behalf of you to me, for how you have treated me these last two weeks," McCarthy/Spicer yelled from the podium at the press conference.
"And that apology is not accepted!"
"I'm not here to be your buddy. I'm here to swallow gum and take names," McCarthy/Spicer went on, referencing the press secretary's real-life admitted habit of chewing and swallowing copious amounts of gum every day.
The sketch touched on the controversial travel ban from some Muslim-majority countries, at which point the character began incorporating props to describe each word spoken. The pseudo Spicer pulled out a plug from a box to indicate "power" and a stuffed moose and lamb as he described what he called radical "moose-lambs."
The show was hosted by Kristen Stewart, who joked in her opening monologue about Trump's tweets following her high-profile breakup with actor Robert Pattinson in 2012.
Robert Pattinson should not take back Kristen Stewart. She cheated on him like a dog & will do it again--just watch. He can do much better!
—@realDonaldTrumpBaldwin's cold open skit referenced several diplomatic calls with world leaders, including German chancellor Angela Merkel, played by former Hillary Clinton impersonator Kate McKinnon, who asked about the travel ban from some Muslim-majority countries.
"We had to do it because of that huge massacre at Bowling Green," said Baldwin/Trump. "It was horrible, so many people died, but actually they're the lucky ones, because they don't have to see how bad The Apprentice has gotten."
The joke had a two-fold punch: it referred to the fictitious Bowling Green incident mentioned by Counselor to the President Kellyanne Conway earlier this week during a news segment in an attempt to defend the administration's immigration ban. Conway later said she mis-spoke about the made-up "massacre."
It also alluded to Trump's Twitter feud with current Apprentice host Arnold Schwarzenegger.
Canadian singer Alessia Cara was SNL's musical guest. Her debut performance on the show included Scars to Your Beautiful and River of Tears.