A court jester’s job is to point out the king’s folly, and Saturday Night Live (SNL) is leaving no stone unturned to do just that. The American TV show started making comedy skits about Donald Trump even before he took office. Now, as the US President, he is one of SNL's favourite subjects of ridicule, along with his counsellor, Kellyanne Conway. Even Vladimir Putin has not been spared by these court jesters.
Art Is Twice Removed From Reality
A hint of reality shines through when in one of the skits, Alec Baldwin, while channeling Trump, confesses that he is a TV President. In the same skit, Vladimir Putin walks in and it all makes sense. And that isn’t even the most brutal. One of the episodes actually opens with Putin addressing America, saying that they shouldn’t worry as he, Putin, has everything under control. Oh, and the first Presidential debate was given quite the accurate treatment it deserved.
Don’t know about America, but SNL is surely becoming great again.
Inbreeding Isn’t Good, In Genetics Or In Politics
Conway, too, has been the inspiration to many a skits. From a burlesque dancer to an unhinged murderer, it has all been tried. Not that I am complaining. Kate McKinnon’s excellent sequence has us comparing it to the original, Roxie Hart, all while we are told the real reason why Conway actually joined the Trump team. Just have a look:
Even when when McKinnon parodied Conway as psychotic because she isn’t being picked up for a televised interview, it seemed to be played to perfection with just the right amount of comedy, a tinge of reality and a lot of Fatal Attraction. In one of the sketches, we can see the philosophy behind the President’s tweeting, or rather re-tweeting activity, with Conway jumping in to unsuccessfully explain his endorsements.
Don’t miss Steve Banner’s special appearance.
Accuracy
The show hasn’t even spared White House Press Secretary Sean Spicer. In one of the skits, Melissa McCarthy, parodying Spicer, is shown dodging questions from White House correspondents. It may have gone a bit far when they showed her actually running into the correspondents, but again, if Trump can flirt on the job, anything can be forgiven.
Of course, Trump missed the entire point of the sketch, and said that he was disappointed that Spicer was played by a woman. *rolls eyes*
SNL seems to be hitting the nail on the head, since it hit its highest rating in the past six years. No matter what criticism the show is drawing from the presiding king of the oranges and his cronies, one thing is a given: The audience loves it.
Happy Independence Day, America!
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