‘SNL’ Introduces Fake Hillary to the Real Hillary

SNL has never been afraid to skewer politicians, taking aim at their policies and personal problems in equal measure. However, the show has also never been afraid to let those politicians appear on the show itself to prove that they’re good sports who can take a joke. Last night’s season premiere brought Hillary Clinton on stage to have an extended interaction with, well, Kate McKinnon’s impersonation of her.

This is no brief walk-on cameo that provides a quick punchline before cutting to a commercial break. This is an extended dialogue sequence where McKinnon tries to drink her troubles away while her helpful bartender Val offers words of encouragement. Of course, Val is played by the real Clinton and the two of them hit it off very well.

Clinton may not have the strongest comedy chops (she’s a politician after all), but she’s certainly unafraid of acknowledging her flaws for laughs. She’s also unafraid to try out a wacky Donald Trump impression and break into song alongside McKinnon. As far as “real life figures interact with their SNL counterpart sketches” go (and that is a very real SNL sub-category), this one is very strong.

The big question now is when Bernie Sanders will jump into the SNL fray in order to win that valuable comedy fan vote...