''Saturday Night Live'' parodies of Bill Clinton

The 42nd President of the United States Bill Clinton has been parodied on Saturday Night Live (SNL) since 1992. He has been portrayed on the show over a hundred times, most often by Darrell Hammond.[1]

Saturday Night Live has parodied U.S. presidents and other politicians since the show started in 1975. The numerous sketches on Clinton are often inspired by aspects of his presidency, the Lewinsky scandal, and his relationship with his wife, herself a frequent subject in SNL's political sketches.[2][3]

Phil Hartman (1992–1994)

Phil Hartman was the first castmember to portray Bill Clinton and did so until he left the show in 1994. Among his 18 appearances as Clinton,[4] a December 1992 sketch, in which Clinton enters a McDonald's and eats customers' food while talking about politics, has been noted as a successful one.[5][6]

Secret Service Agent: Fine. But please don't tell Mrs. Clinton.
Bill Clinton: Jim, let me tell you something - there's gonna be a lot of things we don't tell Mrs. Clinton about. Fast food is the least of our worries.

— Clinton at McDonald's, SNL, 1992.[7]

Darrell Hammond (1995–2016)

Darrell Hammond took over the role during his SNL tenure from 1995 to 2009. Like Hartman, Hammond has been considered one of SNL's best political impersonators,[8] and on the show he parodied several other American politicians. In 2001, he did his Clinton-impersonation at the White House Correspondents' Dinner.[9][10] Hammond has returned as Clinton several times since he left the cast, and has as of 2016 played Bill Clinton on the show 90 times.[1]

Others

A 1994 sketch had several cast members auditioning to play Clinton, including Chris Farley, David Spade, Chris Elliott, Adam Sandler, and Tim Meadows.[11] Michael McKean briefly played Clinton after Hartman, at the end of 1994.[12] Dana Carvey once appeared as a "young Clinton" in a 1993 sketch where Bob Dole (Norm Macdonald) uses a time-machine.[13] Cast member Beck Bennett played Clinton once, in 2013.[14] Meadows also portrayed Clinton in a 1998 Ladies's Man sketch which starred him as Leon Phelps acting out parts of the "Starr Report" as President Clinton. That week's host, Cameron Diaz played a woman named Julie who Phelps asked her to portray Monica Lewinsky.[15]

See also

References

  1. 1 2 "SNL Archives - Impressions - Bill Clinton".
  2. ↑ "Washingtonpost.com Special Report: Clinton Accused". Retrieved 17 December 2016.
  3. ↑ ""Saturday Night Live" 40: Political Follies". Retrieved 17 December 2016.
  4. ↑ "SNL Archives - Impressions - Bill Clinton".
  5. ↑ "SNL's Best Political Sketches".
  6. ↑ "These Bill Clinton Impressions Prove He Was The Greatest President In Comedy History". 19 August 2015.
  7. ↑ "Clinton at McDonald's".
  8. ↑ "Kate McKinnon's Genius Hillary Clinton Impersonation". 13 April 2015.
  9. ↑ "The 5 most devastating jokes from White House Correspondents' Dinners".
  10. ↑ "Karl Rove and 6 other great Bill Clinton–impersonating celebrities". 4 July 2013. Retrieved 12 February 2017.
  11. ↑ "SNL Transcripts: Steve Martin: 09/24/94: Clinton Auditions". snltranscripts.jt.org. Retrieved 16 April 2018.
  12. ↑ "SNL Archives - Impressions - Bill Clinton".
  13. ↑ "SNL Archives - Impressions - Bill Clinton".
  14. ↑ "SNL Archives - Impressions - Bill Clinton".
  15. ↑ http://snltranscripts.jt.org/98/98aladiesman.phtml
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