Outlets like “South Park” have made the decision to not cover Donald Trump this season, their reasoning being the administration and their distorted reality is comedy they can’t match and too ridiculously over the top as it is. It’s their show and they can do what they want, but Saturday Night Live is proving that skewering the current Presidency head on is a winning proposition.
Last week, Melissa McCarthy came on to obliterate White House spokesman Sean “Spicey” Spicer and his angry, inept and overwhelmed mien. This week she returned and did more of the same with equally hilarious results (Kate McKinnon as Jeff Sessions was gold too). Alec Baldwin returned too after a one week absence from the show to host SNL. You’re either for it or against it, but Baldwin as Trump doesn’t get old because the White House’s lunacy just keep escalating giving the show much rich fodder to cull from. Even erstwhile SNL member and now Senator Al Franken has publicly stated that GOP members have been privately questioning Donald’s mental health (gee, the campaign trail didn’t clue you in?). Plus, journalist Andrew Sullivan has made quite the stink this weekend by also questioning the Commander-in-Chief’s limited mental capacities.
READ MORE: Why SNL Is Becoming More Important Than Ever, And Why It Still Has To Redeem Itself
I digress. For my money, the skit of the night was psychosexual drama spoof with Kellyanne Conway (Kate McKinnon) and CNN host Jake Tapper. Straight out of “Fatal Attraction” with McKinnon channeling Glenn Close, the Jake Tapper skit was dark. Perhaps too dark for many, but for me, it was a laugh riot, lampooning CNN’s decision to not have Conway on-air and the White House spokeswoman stalking Tapper for shunning her on his show.
Tapper has even weighed in. Here’s his tweet reactions, but he did little to defend Conway or the attack on her personage.
— Jake Tapper (@jaketapper) February 12, 2017
@__obtuse I think they may have been going more for a comment on my enormous forehead — it's an 8head really
— Jake Tapper (@jaketapper) February 12, 2017
@BowieZMusic @__obtuse it's called aging, my friend. Ask not for whom it tolls.
— Jake Tapper (@jaketapper) February 12, 2017
There’s always the charge that SNL is becoming too mean-spirited, but comedy should lacerate and it’s not like the current administration is being warm and cuddly with its policies. As Robert Reich likes to say at the end of his thoughtful Facebook posts: What do you think? Watch the Trump and administration-related skits below.