While social media commenters last week compared star voter fraud witness Melissa Carone to a real-life “Saturday Night Live” character, the iconic comedy sketch show’s parody of the President Donald Trump supporter is earning mixed reviews from viewers.
The skit: “Saturday Night Live’s” cold open featured Cecily Strong in the role of Carone, lampooning the Dominion Voting Systems contractor’s viral testimony before Michigan’s House Oversight Committee on Wednesday.
- Alongside “Saturday Night Live” cast member Kate McKinnon’s depiction of Rudy Giuliani, Strong portrayed Carone as belligerent and intoxicated.
- “I personally saw hundreds if not thousands of dead people vote,” Strong as Carone said at one point during the sketch.
The reaction: The Carone skit was the latest evidence for many viewers that “Saturday Night Live” has become a “painfully unfunny” and partisan shadow of its past comedic glory.
Commenters also savaged the show for its elitist mockery of Carone’s Midwestern quirks and mannerisms and accused “Saturday Night Live” of “punching down.”
“The biggest problem with this skit, aside from the punching down, is that the real video was much funnier in every way, and about 1,000 people have already tweeted out better impressions than this,” tweeted Washington Examiner reporter Jerry Dunleavy.
Some liberals, such as The Nation’s Jeet Heer, concurred with Dunleavy’s take.
The Daily Wire’s Matt Walsh had an even bleaker assessment:
A MAGA star is born: While the president’s supporters last week praised Carone’s combative exchanges with Michigan lawmakers as “sassy,” liberals, Trump critics and journalists reacted with abject disdain and mockery.
- Much of the ridicule focused on Carone’s presumably outmoded personal style and demeanor.
- A Washington Post report noted her “Midwestern lilt and poofy, blond updo.”
- Still, the media’s jeers didn’t stop the president himself from expressing his admiration for Carone.
“Melissa is great!” Trump tweeted on Sunday.
