Viewers were likely expecting “SNL” to sport a sketch featuring Kate McKinnon as Kellyanne Conway to blast her for sitting with her feet up on an Oval Office couch. But “SNL” didn’t go for the obvious joke — instead, it just slipped McKinnon as Conway onto stage no fewer than three times in a perfect reference to the moment.
The show’s cold open featured McKinnon as Jeff Sessons in a “Forrest Gump” parody in which he directly referenced the #Couchgate photo, even going so far as to hold up a printout of the photo at one point. “This is my best good friend Kellyanne,” McKinnon’s Sessions said as he showed the photo. “She ain’t got no legs. Why you ain’t got no legs, Kellyanne?”
McKinnon then showed up between sketches dressed as Conway, following her cold open turn as Attorney General Jeff Sessions. Rather than say anything, she merely mimicked Conway’s pose in a now-infamous photo, in which she sits with her feet under her on an Oval Office couch. McKinnon’s Conway first showed up randomly between sketches (pictured above), then appeared again on stage just before the first musical performance by Father John Misty.
Random kneeling Conway 2 #SNL pic.twitter.com/cffkZNhG5e
— CJ Fogler AKA Perc70 #BlackLivesMatter (@cjzero) March 5, 2017
In the best moment, the camera panned back at the end of “Weekend Update,” revealing Conway sitting on the news desk.
Wait for it… #SNL pic.twitter.com/F0vf6NXyak
— Saturday Night Live – SNL (@nbcsnl) March 5, 2017
Twitter went crazy last week mocking Conway for her seemingly disrespectful treatment of Oval Office furniture. The Associated Press photo shows the Oval Office packed with representatives from Historically Black Colleges and Universities, while Conway looks her phone.
Many of the reactions wondered how conservatives would have reacted to such a moment if a staffer in Barack Obama’s White House had been captured in such a pose. It doesn’t help that Conway has been the subject of scandals, most recently from potentially violating ethics rules by advocating for Ivanka Trump’s products during an interview.
McKinnon didn’t appear in the rest of the episode except to make her hidden appearances as Conway. She started the episode by embodying Sessions in a parody of “Forrest Gump,” detailing the attorney general’s own struggles with scandal this week. That sketch ended with host Octavia Spencer reprising her role as Minny Jackson from “The Help,” offering Sessions a pie made with poop like in her movie.