SNL treatment fails to faze McCain
Politicians responding to being impersonated on “Saturday Night Live” is nothing new. Sometimes they seem pleased, such as when President George H.W. Bush both invited Dana Carvey to the White House to perform his impression and appeared on the show himself, playing along with it. But President Donald Trump, the show’s primary target of late, has taken a more negative view of the comedic institution.
Meghan McCain took a different approach than the current president after she was impersonated by Aidy Bryant on Saturday’s episode. That probably shouldn’t be too surprising, considering that she’s the daughter of one of Trump’s favorite targets of criticism, the late Sen. John McCain, R-Ariz.
“I’m not supposed to be on twitter because of hiatus BUT this sketch is hilarious, and being parodied by @SNL is a huge pop cultural honor,” McCain tweeted, adding a reference to the sketch. “Signed, your old intern and ‘the princess of Arizona.’”
The sketch was a comedic rendering of “The View,” a show best described by “SNL” performer Leslie Jones, playing Whoopi Goldberg: “We are five best friends with nothing in common.”
The bit’s primary take on the right-wing McCain focused on her (real-life) frequent clashes with the left-leaning Joy Behar, perfectly portrayed here by Kate McKinnon.
The show’s McCain introduces herself forcefully, launching immediately into an argument with Behar.
“Can, can I just say something? As the princess of Arizona, there is a crisis at the border, and the border is right up in my Arizona, which was founded on sunburnt women selling turquoise jewelry, not rando Mexicans,” McCain says. “And that’s not racist, because my makeup artist is gay.”
The exchange that follows is a near-faithful recreation of one that has occurred in real life.
“OK, OK. This is the problem: You’re demonizing entire countries full of nice people,” Behar, spinning her arms around like a windmill, responds.
“I did not say that,” says McCain. Then the two go back and forth with Behar, saying, “Well, can you let me finish?” and McCain repeating “Well, can you let me talk?” several times.
Finally, McCain says, similarly to how she did on an actual episode of “The View”: “Well, can you let me talk? Because it’s actually your job to listen to me.”
This time, though, the lights around Behar change as it looks like she might lose it. Abby Huntsman (Cecily Strong) munches away on popcorn in anticipation, and Ana Navarro (Melissa Villasenor) takes her phone out to film the showdown. Before it begins, though, Whoopi Goldberg (Leslie Jones) sprays them both with water from a squirt bottle, as if they’re a pair of misbehaving pets.
The confrontation continues with minor variations later in the segment, after Jenny McCarthy (Emma Stone) comes on the show to talk about her anti-vaccination views.
The real-life Behar had a slightly more muted response to the segment. “Finally an actual female is playing me,” she tweeted. “Thank you Kate.” In the past, that role was filled by Fred Armisen.