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On 'Saturday Night Live,' Melissa McCarthy's 'Spicey' Has An Easter Message

The two people who are garnering much of Saturday Night Live's recent attention are not cast members.

But Alec Baldwin and Melissa McCarthy were again the center of it all on the latest SNL, returning as President Trump and Sean Spicer, respectively.

Baldwin appeared in the show's cold open, sitting behind the desk in the Oval Office, Vice President Mike Pence (cast member Beck Bennett) standing by his side.

"Read to me again from the list of my accomplishments," Trump says.

Pence reads the one-item list: "Nominated Neil Gorsuch."

Trump reminisces on memories of the Oval Office, until Pence reminds him that he ordered the Syria airstrikes, met with Chinese President Xi Jinping and Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe all at his Mar-a-Lago resort in Florida.

The real president is spending Easter there; it's his seventh weekend at Mar-a-Lago since taking office.

Baldwin's Trump calls Steve Bannon in, who happens to be the Grim Reaper. Next he calls in Jared Kushner (Jimmy Fallon, hosting). Recent reports have played up a power struggle between the two in the White House, with Kushner appearing to be on the winning end.

Baldwin's Trump rises — in turn making a Russia lapel pin visible — and says it's "elimination night," bringing to mind the "firing" of contestants on Trump's reality shows.

One of the two must lose, to "join Kellyanne Conway in the basement," he says. If you've noticed, Conway hasn't been on television much recently.

But the show's highlight was the return of Melissa McCarthy as Sean Spicer — with a special Easter message. Spicer enters in a giant Easter Bunny costume.

"Everybody shut up so I can apologize. Yes, you all got your wish this week didn't you, huh? Spicey finally made a mistake."

McCarthy's Spicer was talking about the real Spicer's comparison involving Hitler and Bashar Assad last week, for which he apologized.

The real Spicer has made numerous false claims, starting from his first press conference.

"It would be really great if the nitpickers could try to see the big picture, and didn't solely focus on every little slur and lie I say," 'Spicey' says.

McCarthy's Spicer then goes on to demonstrate a very inaccurate story of Passover (which shares a day with Easter this year) with what appear to be Veggie Tales dolls.

The show will take a few weeks off and will return on May 6 with Chris Pine as the host and LCD Soundsystem as the musical guest.

Copyright 2021 NPR. To see more, visit https://www.npr.org.

James Doubek is an associate editor and reporter for NPR. He frequently covers breaking news for NPR.org and NPR's hourly newscast. In 2018, he reported feature stories for NPR's business desk on topics including electric scooters, cryptocurrency, and small business owners who lost out when Amazon made a deal with Apple.