Here's How Melissa McCarthy Came To Play Sean Spicer On 'SNL'
March 27, 2017, 2:26 p.m.
The idea was pitched to her by a head writer.
This season Saturday Night Live has been running some real time commentary alongside the real life dystopian follies playing out at the White House. Kent Sublette is one of the head writers charged with bringing the insane news of the week out of Washington/Mar-a-lago/Twitter to the show, and was the staffer behind bringing us one of this season's most inspired moments in casting: Melissa McCarthy as Sean Spicer.
McCarthy has now brilliantly portrayed Spicer twice (Trump, apparently, does not approve), and will be back behind the press secretary's podium when she hosts on May 13th. (And she's been taking notes!) In a recent chat with Ellen Degeneres, McCarthy explained that it all came to be when Sublette caller her, asking, "Do you have any interest in coming in and doing Spicer for us?" The rest is comedic history (and sadly also commentary on real life America).
Here's the Ellen clip, where McCarthy discussed her Spicey costume: “I look so much like my dad. I feel like my dad and Sean Spicer had a baby, and it’s me. Which makes it even stranger.”
And re-watch McCarthy-as-Spicer below:
