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The Hollywood Reporter gathered 20 Saturday Night Live insiders for an epic account of the show’s “yuuuge” year.
THR’s Lacey Rose spoke to everyone from Alec Baldwin and Kate McKinnon to Chris Rock and Melissa McCarthy as they revealed Baldwin’s future playing Donald Trump, how McCarthy became Sean Spicer (with help from Kristen Stewart), the joke Aziz Ansari had to cut, and how D.C. chaos is fueling the highest ratings in decades: “You almost feel like a war profiteer,” says castmember Colin Jost.
As part of the magazine’s cover story, five of the show’s political stars posed in character for THR‘s cameras, including Baldwin (as Trump), McKinnon (as Trump counselor Kellyanne Conway and Attorney General Jeff Sessions), McCarthy (as White House Press Secretary Spicer), Beck Bennett (as Russian President Vladimir Putin) and Cecily Strong (as first lady Melania Trump).
Above, watch as the quintet gets into character, and below, Strong answers THR‘s questions, including her worst audition (and worst job), favorite SNL character (both ones played by her and those played by other SNL stars over the years), her favorite curse word and what she would ask Melania Trump if she could: “‘Would you please go to the White House, so we don’t have to spend a million dollars a day?’ But I would say it in a nice way because I’m respectful.”
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