Melissa McCarthy won an Emmy Award for Outstanding Guest Actress in a Comedy Series for her impersonation of former White House Press Secretary Sean Spicer on Saturday Night Live. Dave Chappelle also won for his appearance on SNL as well at Sunday's Creative Arts Awards, which is a precursor to the Emmy Awards next weekend. Chappelle hosted the first Saturday Night Live after the presidential election while McCarthy had a reoccurring guest spot playing Sean Spicer in an exaggerated, often manic portrayal that gained praise and viral laughs days after the show would air, much like Alec Baldwin's impersonation of Donald Trump.
The news of McCarthy's much deserved Emmy award comes to us via The Washington Post while Alec Baldwin is nominated for his impersonation of Donald Trump for Outstanding Supporting Actor in a Comedy Series also on Saturday Night Live. McCarthy and Baldwin both were targets in the eyes of Trump and his supporters who did not find the humor in the exaggerated impersonations or the humor in saying word for word what either of them had said in public forums.
On the other hand, many attribute Melissa McCarthy's Sean "Spicey" Spicer impersonation to actually lowering the White House Press Secretary's standing in the eyes of Trump. There are strong rumors that part of the reason that Spicer was let go from his post were due to his exaggerated mannerisms that McCarthy nailed and then took over the top. SNL has a long history of parodying occupants of the White House and the world of politics from Chevy Chase's nonsensical Gerald Ford impression all the way to Will Ferrell's George W. Bush and Tina Fey's ridiculously spot on portrayal of former Vice-Presidential hopeful, Sarah Palin.
Melissa McCarthy admits that she was puzzled at first to why SNL had even approached her to impersonate Spicer in the first place, but soon warmed up to the idea. At first she says that she didn't understand why people felt that her and Spicer looked like each other, but revealed to Ellen DeGeneres that as soon as she put on the prosthetic ears that it began to click for the actress. McCarthy said, "I feel like my dad and Sean Spicer had a baby, and it's me, which makes it even stranger." The prosthetic ears helped change her face shape and got her closer to Sean Spicer. McCarthy said, "Then, I got into it, 'cause I was like, 'Can I have eye bags?' And the answer was yes."
Regardless of political party or view, Melissa McCarthy did a funny impersonation of Sean Spicer that even he was able to laugh at, after saying that it was totally inaccurate. A lot has happened since SNL took its summer break, so hopefully we'll be able to see McCarthy come up one more time so we can see what life has been like for Sean Spicer since he got canned from the White House. In other, real-life Sean Spicer news, he has chosen the Jimmy Kimmel Show for his late night debut and first major interview since he left his position, which will air on September 13th.