Things again got “Spicey” on “Saturday Night Live” as Melissa McCarthy returned to a podium that cruised through the streets of Manhattan in search of Donald Trump.
The skit started with Aidy Bryant as deputy press secretary Sarah Huckabee Sanders in charge of the press briefing; McCarthy, who also guest hosted on Saturday, cowered in the bushes as Spicer, a nod to that surreal moment from last week. But you can’t keep a feisty Spicey down, and the ripped-from-the-headlines character charged the room after journalists began begging Bryant to replace him.
A misfired joke about “pants on fire,” played largely for the visual of McCarthy unleashing an extinguisher, was followed by the more solid comedy spun out of a question about Russia. “The only Russia thing here is my little dollies,” McCarthy said, holding up nesting dolls featuring Trump holding Vladimir Putin and a monstrous Steve Bannon.
But the sketch really kicked into gear when the podium motored to New York, after “Spicer” goes in search of his boss in response to a reporter suggesting maybe Trump lied to him about Russia.
“He wouldn’t do that,” a tearful McCarthy said. “He’s my friend.”
Cut to Spicey deep in Manhattan traffic – and, spolier alert, he’s a road rager – slowly traveling through midtown to the revolving doors of Trump Tower. A doorman delivers a punchline that resonates for New Yorkers who know it very well: “He doesn’t come here anymore.”
That would have been a fitting end, but in the “SNL” tradition of more is not enough, the 8-minute skit continues until McCarthy finds Alec Baldwin’s Donald Trump at a New Jersey golf course.
