SNL MAKING GREAT AGAIN
Donald Trump may not be happy, but comedy show is having a field day
Vulture.com reports viewership is averaging about 10 million U.S. viewers each week — the show’s highest numbers since 1994-95.
Donald Trump ran for the U.S. presidency promising to “Make America Great Again.”
Mission accomplished — at least in one area: He’s certainly made SNL great again. Vulture.com reports viewership is averaging about 10 million U.S. viewers each week — the show’s highest numbers since the 199495 season, the heyday of Adam Sandler and Chris Farley.
Alec Baldwin made his Saturday Night Live debut impersonating Trump with the 2016 season opener on Oct. 1, just days after Trump’s first debate with Hillary Clinton. Trump took time to weigh in. But his Twitter post shows he was not happy:
Oct. 16: “Watched Saturday Night Live hit job on me. Time to retire the boring and unfunny show. Alec Baldwin portrayal stinks. Media rigging election!”
Later reactions have been similar (and faster):
Dec. 4: “Just tried watching Saturday Night Live — unwatchable! Totally biased, not funny and the Baldwin impersonation just can’t get any worse. Sad.” (Baldwin’s Twitter reply to that one: “Release your tax returns and I’ll stop.” Trump hasn’t, so Baldwin hasn’t.)
Jan. 15: “@NBCNews is bad but Saturday Night Live is the worst of NBC. Not funny, cast is terrible, always a complete hit job. Really bad television!” And so on. Even Leslie Jones has tried her hand as Trump. SNL has also taken on others in the Trump camp, with Beck Bennett as VicePresident Mike Pence, a shirtless Russian President Vladimir Putin, even CNN anchor Jake Tapper. Cecily Strong has Melania Trump in Melania Moments. Kate McKinnon has taken on PR flack Kellyanne Conway and U.S. Attorney General Jeff Sessions (also Democrat senator and Trump nemesis Elizabeth Warren).
SNL player Mikey Day has portrayed Trump adviser Steve Bannon literally as Death. Melissa McCarthy’s over-thetop take on White House press secretary Sean Spicer has been a hit with viewers (though not with Trump) and has spread like wildfire on social media.
And now others are wanting in on the fun: Rosie O’Donnell has volunteered to play Bannon, even posting a mocked-up picture on Twitter. Standup comic Margaret Cho wants to play housing nominee (and failed presidential candidate) Ben Carson, tweeting that she’s “literally been practising how to hold full conversations while sleeping.”
Good Fight star Christine Baranski says she’s up to playing Trump Education Secretary Betsy DeVos. It looks like SNL will have plenty of material to work with.
Well, Trump did promise he’d create jobs. Not sure this is what he had in mind.