Melissa McCarthy's Sean Spicer emerges from the bushes on "Saturday Night Live"
Melissa McCarthy returned to "Saturday Night Live" to host the show, bringing back her famed Sean Spicer impersonation -- but viewers had to wait for it.
The actress didn't participate in the cold open. In fact, another famous Washington impersonator took center stage -- Alec Baldwin reprised his "SNL" role as President Trump.
Michael Che played played Lester Holt, who was interviewing Baldwin as Mr. Trump. He asked him if it was true if he fired James Comey because of the Russia investigation.
The fictionalized Mr. Trump responded, "No, I fired him because of Russia. He's investigating Russia. I don't like it. I should fire him."
Che as Holt spoke into his earpiece and said, "Did I get him? Nothing matters? Oh nothing matters anymore."
The skit touched on Time's report that Mr. Trump gets two scoops of ice cream when the rest of his staff gets one, and the fact that Anderson Cooper rolled his eyes at Kellyanne Conway during an interview.
Later, McCarthy came forward to deliver her opening monologue during which she focused on Mother's Day. She gave a shoutout to her mom: "I'm lucky to be the daughter of a mom, Sandy McCarthy, who always sends me flowers on Mother's Day."
Then, since her mom couldn't make it to the show, she chose a mom from the audience, Joan, and gave her a special backstage tour that included a visit to the NBC page desk, an encounter with a live llama and meet and greets with Blake Lively and Ryan Reynolds and musical guests Haim.
Later, McCarthy finally appeared in her signature "SNL" role -- Sean Spicer. The skit opened with Aidy Bryant playing Deputy Press Secretary Sarah Huckabee Sanders character filling in for Spicer, saying, "My father is Mike Huckabee and my mother is a big southern hamburger. I'm filling in for Sean today because as you know, Sean is fulfilling his duty in the naval service."
Members of the press pointed out that it looked like Spicer was hiding out in the bushes, and when one person told Huckabee Sanders that she was articulate and charming, Spicer busted into the press conference with a fire extinguisher and shouted, "Liar, liar, pants on fire. That's why I put him out. That's right -- Spicey's back."
When reporters questioned Spicer about Mr. Trump firing Comey, he said, "Trump is innocent. How do we know? Because he told us so and he hired lawyers to agree with him and they provided a certified letter ... it costs an extra $2 to certify."
He offered to give reporters the tracking number for the certified letter and after calling out the numbers said, "Wait, that's my bank routing number. No one use it. You can't take money out of it. If you want to put money in, go ahead." McCarthy's Spicer then gave the reporters a demonstration of how Mr. Trump made decisions using a matryoshka doll that involved Hillary Clinton, Vladimir Putin, Steve Bannon and Jeff Sessions, but soon after, reporters asked him if he was worried about getting fired.
Spicer then traveled to New York City, podium in tow, and confronted Mr. Trump and said, "Mr. Trump, I need to talk to you. Have you ever told me things that aren't true?" to which Mr. Trump, played by Baldwin, said, "Only since you started working here." Mr. Trump grabbed Spicer and said, "Sean, kiss me," and when Spicer tried to resist, Mr. Trump said, "No, I'm famous, it's okay."
Spicer commented that it was similar to when people got kissed in "The Godfather" and disappeared before the skit closed.
McCarthy came back in another skit with Kate McKinnon. The two played brassy senior actresses named Debette Goldry and Gaye Fontaine who participated in a panel called "Women in Film," opposite "SNL" cast members playing Marion Cotillard and Lupita Nyong'o.
Debette, played by McKinnon, and Fontaine, played by McCarthy, revealed that in order to make it in Hollywood, they had to remove their molars "to make our faces look less Polish," and that McKinnon's characters even had to remove half their ribs. They also said they participated in promotional work for lead paint to make it seem that it was safe to consume.
McCarthy then played an unsettling actress named Donna in promotional material for a distributor called Lighthouse Features who frightened executives and made them feel "itchy."
The actress closed out the night with a surprise appearance by Steve Martin, donning a velvet robe, onstage.
"You're Steve Martin!" said McCarthy.
"Listen, welcome to the five-timers club, Melissa!" he said, referring to her fifth time on the show.
McCarthy wished the audience and viewers a happy Mother's Day before putting on her honorary five-timers robe and giving Martin and Baldwin hugs.
