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Culture

Melissa McCarthy as White House's Sean Spicer wins Twitter

Commentary: To many, the actress, a guest on "Saturday Night Live," is more Sean Spicer, than Sean Spicer.
2 min read

Technically Incorrect offers a slightly twisted take on the tech that's taken over our lives.

This wasn't quite central casting.

spicer.jpg

Melissa McCarthy plays White House Press Secretary Sean Spicer on "Saturday Night Live."

 SNL/YouTube screenshot by Chris Matyszczyk/CNET

Some will choose to call it left field, or even left-wing casting.

For "Saturday Night Live" chose to present White House Press Secretary Sean Spicer as an overly aggressive ogre. Oh, and he was played by Melissa McCarthy, who channeled a sort of demented Mickey Rooney as she/he ranted at the press corps.

"I came out here to punch you in the face," McCarthy's Spicer began.

This spiced-up Spicer has a way with words that surpasses even the real one.

Describing the president presenting his Supreme Court pick, Spicer described the excitement of the audience: "The crowd greeted him with a standing ovation which lasted a full 15 minutes and you can check the tape on that. Everyone was smiling. Everyone was happy. The men all had erections. And every single one of the women was ovulating left and right."

There was mockery of Spicer tweeting out his email password, something he's rumored to have recently done.

And then it rather degenerated into the theater of the groteseque. To some, this was absurdly funny. To others, this must have seemed yet another blind loser liberal moment.

More Technically Incorrect

On Twitter, McCarthy's performance was a top trending item on Saturday night and remained so on Sunday morning.

"This is the funniest thing I've seen in forever," tweeted author Jon Ronson. "There is only before Melissa McCarthy as Sean Spicer and after," offered Jennifer Gunter. Veteran NBC anchor Andrea Mitchell mused: "Melissa McCarthy should do the briefing every day."

Perhaps, though, the most telling comment came from Reuters reporter Emily Flitter: "The @nbcsnl skit with Melissa McCarthy as @PressSec was so powerful some reporters tweeted it like an actual presser."

Real news is fake news is real news. All that matters is whether it has a little spice to it.

The White House did not immediately respond to a request for comment.

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