Hillary Clinton’s cameo in a comedy skit on “Saturday Night Live” was, like her other media appearances, carefully calibrated to connect with a broad national audience and cross off another item on her campaign checklist without risking outright ridicule.
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The Democratic front-runner played a sympathetic barkeep named “Val” opposite Kate McKinnon’s celebrated impression of Clinton in Saturday Night Live’s season premiere on NBC.
The segment did exactly what those close to Clinton have been encouraging her to do to appear more personable: use her self-deprecating sense of humor she’s famous for to help boost sagging poll numbers.
“I needed to blow off a few steam”, McKinnon’s Clinton tells Val. This led to an enthusiastic response from the crowd.
“It could have been sooner”, pressed fake-Clinton, to which the real Clinton responded, “Fair point”. In response to McKinnon “agreeing” on the pipeline front even though it took her a while to get there, Clinton remarked, “Nothing wrong with taking your time”.
The article first appeared on The Hollywood Reporter. “All anybody wants to talk about is Donald Trump”. (Clinton stayed mum on the issue for months until weighing in last month.) McKinnon also noted Clinton’s late embrace of same-sex marriage. Peppered through the skit were occasional comments from McKinnon on Clinton being “real”. This is an extended dialogue sequence where McKinnon tries to drink her troubles away while her helpful bartender Val offers words of encouragement.
3. Hillary Clinton the bartender! “Isn’t he the one that’s like, ‘Ugh you’re all losers, ‘” Clinton said, imitating Trump.
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“Well you did it pretty soon”, replied Val. She did a nice little Donald Trump impression and made fun of her own political stances (like how long it took to come around on gay marriage). And, of course, there was one person that was impossible to ignore-Donald Trump. And, she says, she wants to “mount his hair in the Oval Office”.
