Hey, imagine what the impression would look like if she wasn’t “rooting for” the “resplendent” Hillary Clinton. I shudder to think. During a comedy round table with a group of other comedians, including Amy Schumer and Ellie Kemper (and Lena Dunham, who’s certainly a woman who occasionally writes things that are funny, but not as much a comedian as the rest), Kate McKinnon talked about portraying the aspirant Madam President:
MICHAEL O’CONNELL, THE HOLLYWOOD REPORTER: You have a huge platform in the next year and-a-half playing the Hillary Clinton of SNL. How are you, how are you going to approach that? Do you feel pressure?
KATE MCKINNON, SATURDAY NIGHT LIVE: I do feel immense pressure. I’m rooting for her, obviously.
TRACEE ELLIS ROSS, BLACK-ISH: I’m rooting for you.
LENA DUNHAM, GIRLS: Me too! And I believe you can make it funny while also not compromising our race.
MCKINNON: That is the challenge. Because once it becomes a comparison that will be a different story. Right now the story is just that Hillary is running and –
STACEY WILSON, THE HOLLYWOOD REPORTER: What’s the secret to doing Hillary? When you study her and her mannerisms?
MCKINNON (fake coughs): No, it’s a combination of the, the people who wrote those cold opens were Chris Kelly and Sara Schneider who are the geniuses.
DUNHAM: The funniest people in the world.
MCKINNON: Who have everything I’ve ever been proud of – they’ve written. So it’s a combination of their take on her that they had and then I just wanted to play on the inherent contrast between a woman who is so driven and so hardened by her experiences and needs this and the country needs this. And also a little sweetie granny from the Midwest. Just the juxtaposition of those two things.
A couple observations about this exchange. First, I don’t really care how she feels about Hillary as long as she’s making Hillary funny, which she has done admirably, seemingly without pulling any punches. Her Hillary is painfully uncharismatic, driven to the point of psychosis, and absolutely consumed with the idea of ruling us all. If I had to choose how Hillary was portrayed on SNL, that’d be pretty close to it, with obviously a bit more emphasis on the Clinton penchant for rather obvious corruption. Second, it’s nice to see Tracee Ellis Ross hop in with “I’m rooting for you,” turning the conversation back to the business of being funny rather swiftly when it momentarily turned to cheerleading. It’s almost as if she thinks making Hillary funny is more important than making Hillary win, which sounds right for a women in comedy roundtable, but nonetheless is unexpected.
Then the round table of mostly reliably outspoken liberal women (Kemper strikes me as possibly more unpredictable and “Unbreakable Kimmy Schmidt” crossed some P.C. lines delightfully) goes on to improv some slogans for Hillary, with Schumer offering a characteristically biting one:
THE HOLLYWOOD REPORTER: If you wrote a campaign slogan for her, what would it be?
SCHUMER: “Snitches Get Stitches.”
MCKINNON: “Guys, Come On.”
DUNHAM: I love that people are like, “She’s not qualified to be president.” Then everybody else they bring in, they’re like, “He managed a Ben & Jerry’s for a while.” (Laughter.)
SCHUMER: He’s the night manager at Petco.
KEMPER: I want to hear other slogans!
DUNHAM: “Blondes Have More Foreign Policy Experience.”
Schumer is another undeniably politically liberal feminist comedian who seems to be at least equally concerned with being funny as she is with being an activist. She manages to combine the two far better than most, taking even the most hackneyed Internet feminist complaint of the week — catcalling, pay gap, men who tell women to smile, men who tell women they’d look great without make-up, manspreading—and turning them into truly original and often hilarious sketches on her “Inside Amy Schumer” on Comedy Central. Her “12 Angry Men” episode was genuinely hilarious bordering on brilliant (all links to anything Amy Schumer says come with a strong content warning). And, yes, this makes her a better advocate for her sometimes out there political views. And, yes, right-of-center advocates should keep that in mind, lest we forget entertaining and informing people are not mutually exclusive.
SNL will be hard on Republicans, no doubt harder on the eventual nominee than they are on Hillary. But McKinnon’s Hillary impression will make an impression on voters, just as Chevy Chase’s Gerald Ford convinced people a football star was a klutz. It matters, and McKinnon has homed in on what makes us laugh at her— she’s brittle and weird and and entitled, and a but maniacal. She’s not resplendent, no matter how much McKinnon says it interviews. I’ll take that pop culture portrayal of her any day. Here’s to entertainers who are interested in entertaining.
The full round table is here.
Join the conversation as a VIP Member