Sun Sentinel Palm Beach Edition
‘SNL’ goes live to end its huge season
Thanks largely to Donald Trump, “Saturday Night Live” is closing its landmark 42nd season by going live to the entire country with four episodes.
On April 15, Jimmy Fallon hosts the first. He will be followed by Chris Pine on May 6, Melissa McCarthy on May 13 and Dwayne Johnson on May 20.
Comedy about President Trump and his administration propelled the show to its mostwatched season in 24 years. Alec Baldwin makes headlines as Trump. Kate McKinnon wins raves for her work as Hillary Clinton, Kellyanne Conway and Jeff Sessions. McCarthy supplies electrifying moments as press secretary Sean Spicer.
Trump even tweeted a negative review during the Dec. 3 show: “Just tried watching Saturday Night Live — unwatchable! Totally biased, not funny and the Baldwin impersonation just can’t get any worse. Sad.”
Yet “SNL” has connected with many frustrated viewers. Since the election, hosts Dave Chappelle and Aziz Ansari delivered first-rate monologues. A few standout moments:
The Dec. 3 show started with Trump retweeting during a security meeting. “There is a reason actually that Donald tweets so much,” Conway said. “He does it to distract the media from his business conflicts and all the very scary people in his cabinet.” Trump also decided to “smush” his promises together and “build a swamp.”
The Dec. 10 show opened with Conway revealing Trump’s pick to head the DEA: Walt White (Bryan Cranston) from “Breaking Bad.” “I know the DEA better than anyone inside and out,” White said. “It’s time for America to cook again.”
On Feb. 4, McCarthy’s Spicer held up a stuffed moose and a stuffed lamb to proclaim that Trump “will not be deterred in his fight against radical mooselambs.”
McCarthy returned as “new Spicy” on Feb. 11, rode her podium into the throng of reporters and revealed that Trump would sue the 9th Circuit judges over the travel ban in “The People’s Court.” He did that in a later sketch. “This is a TV court,” Judge Marilyn Milian (Cecily Strong) said. “That’s OK, I’m a TV president,” Trump replied.
In a divided country, he has been grand for “SNL.”