McCarthy hops all over USA press secretary

Melissa McCarthy has returned to Saturday Night Live to reprise her impression of White House press secretary Sean Spicer, skewering his gaffe last week involving Hitler and the Holocaust.

And Alec Baldwin was back as US President Donald Trump on the show, which included an appearance by host Jimmy Fallon as Trump adviser and son-in-law Jared Kushner. McCarthy came out in a bunny suit, a reference to Spicer having played the Easter Bunny at one of the White House’s Easter Egg Roll events during the George W. Bush administration.

Spicer shocked the White House press corps and others during a briefing on April 11 while discussing Trump’s decision to launch air strikes on Syria in response to President Bashar alAssad’s use of chemical weapons on Syrian civilians.

Spicer stated that even Hitler didn’t resort to using chemical weapons on his own people - a comment that drew immediate corrections and a storm of criticism for insensitivity and lack of knowledge of the Holocaust.

To make matters worse, Spicer’s comment came on the Jewish festival of Passover.

He later apologised for the verbal debacle in an interview with CNN.

McCarthy’s Spicer delivered a belligerent apology from a podium, but also berated the press for inflating the incident.

‘‘If you guys didn’t focus on every little slur and lie I said ... ‘‘ she said. Spicer also raised eyebrows by referring to ‘‘Holocaust centres’’ rather than concentration camps.

McCarthy’s Spicer sketch also brought in another PR debacle of the past week, that involving United Airlines.

Passenger Dr David Dao was shown in a video being pulled from his seat and dragged down the aircraft’s aisle after refusing to leave a flight to make room for airline employees.

‘‘I know they were called ‘concentration clubs’,’’ McCarthy said. ‘‘I know [the victims] were sent there on trains, but at least they didn’t have to fly United.’’

Her sketch ended with Spicer driving an egg-shaped golf cart over the podium, right after he blurted out: ‘‘By the way, the president’s probably going to bomb North Korea tonight.’’

Baldwin’s sketch opened with him sitting at a desk going over his list of accomplishments as president to date with US VicePresident Mike Pence, played by Beck Bennett. ‘‘Have you seen my tweets on North Korea? This could all be over by Monday,’’ Baldwin’s Trump said after Bennett’s Pence reminded him he had more than 1300 days to go in his presidency.

Fallon followed the opening sketch with a high-energy segment that traded the traditional monologue for a performance of David Bowie’s Let’s Dance that featured Fallon and a group of dancers moving through the hall outside Studio 8-H and the backstage area.