33 Celebs Speak Honestly About How It Feels To Be Impersonated On Saturday Night Live

Some people were not very happy about the way they were portrayed...

Damjan

• Published in Film & TV
• April 10, 2022

They say that impersonation is the highest form of flattery. But some people don’t view things that way.

Especially if you are a celeb and the impersonation was done on national TV in front of millions of viewers. Saturday Night Live (SNL) is famous for its sketch humor, which frequently features celebrity impersonations by some of the show's top cast members.

It's not just about getting the celebrity's voice right when impersonating them. It necessitates fully embodying the individual's individuality, from vocal inflection to gestures – even their customary pauses, eccentricities, and vernacular.

Saturday Night Live (SNL) has always had a great impersonator or two among its cast members over the years. Sometimes a person can only do one or two impressions exceptionally effectively.

Others, on the other hand, can convincingly impersonate a wide range of celebrities from the past and present. Celebrity guests have traditionally been invited to appear on Saturday Night Live with the cast member who plays them on the show.

Mick Jagger and Jimmy Fallon, Hillary Clinton and Amy Poehler and Kate McKinnon, Sarah Palin and Tina Fey, and Donald Trump and Darrell Hammond are among the previous partnerships. We are showing 33 celebs' reactions to the way they were impersonated. Take a look:

1. Brad Pitt as Dr. Anthony Fauci

"I think he did great," Fauci said. "I'm a great fan of Brad Pitt, and that's the reason why when people ask me who I would like to play me,

I mention Brad Pitt. He's one of my favorite actors...I think he showed that he is really a classy guy when at the end he took off his hair and thanked me and all of the healthcare workers. So not only is he a really great actor, but he is actually a classy person."

2. Chloe Fineman as Carole Baskin

"I could just slap that woman," Baskin said during The Pet Show podcast. "This whole, 'My kitty, meow, meow, kitty, meow,' and then she would just say these really weird words all in a row.

That all became popular, I guess, in popular culture and people wanted me to talk like that on the Cameos. And I'm like, ‘I have no idea how to talk like that. That is not how I speak."

3. Kate McKinnon as Ruth Bader Ginsburg

"I liked the actress who portrayed me," the late Ginsburg told NPR's, Nina Totenberg. "And I would like to say, ‘Gins-Burn!' sometimes to my colleagues."

4. Kate McKinnon as Hillary Clinton

"Her really dramatic impersonation of me does make me think, 'Oh my gosh, did I roll my eyes? Lift my eyebrows?'" Clinton told in an interview for People.

"My laugh, which has been noted since I was a little girl—'hearty' is the way it's often described—I see the exaggerated version of it and I do sometimes think, 'Well, maybe I should just sort of back off from that.' But then I forget and go on and just be what I've always been."

5. Will Ferrell as James Lipton

"I ask my share of naïve questions on Inside the Actors Studio, but one of the most naïve questions ever asked of me is, 'Did Will Ferrell's imitation bother you?'" Lipton wrote in his memoir.

"Upset me! No one waited more eagerly for the next installment—and the day Will left Saturday Night Live, which is to say the day I left Saturday Night Live, was a very dark day for me."

6. Kristen Wiig as Kathie Lee Gifford

"Everyone seems to enjoy it, but I don't think it's that funny," Gifford said. "Can't she get another job? Go off and do something else?"

7. Kenan Thompson as Steve Harvey

"I just look at it like this: You gotta be famous to get hit," Harvey says "I can't read that well, but I can read better than Kenan can. I really don't have 50 buttons on any of my suits.

Ten years ago I did, but not anymore. And I can't pronounce words that have four syllables, so he's right."

8. Tina Fey as Sarah Palin

"She thought it was quite funny," Palin's spokesperson stated, "particularly because she once dressed up as Tina Fey for Halloween."

9. Andy Samberg as Mark Wahlberg

"I didn't think it was as funny as I'd hoped," Wahlberg told MTV. "I love when people do imitations of me; I try to get people who work with me to do it all the time. It's not gonna be one of those things like [Tina Fey's] Sarah Palin, where it's a big deal...I just wish it was a little bit funnier."

10. Melissa McCarthy as Sean Spicer

"The first one was funny," Spicer stated in his interview for The Blast, adding that he'd like to "share" McCarthy's Emmy.

11. Kate McKinnon as Ellen DeGeneres

"I didn't like it. I'm just kidding—I'm Ellen! I like everything!"

12. Alec Baldwin as Donald Trump

"Just tried watching Saturday Night Live - unwatchable!" Trump tweeted. "Totally biassed, not funny and the Baldwin impersonation just can't get any worse. Sad."

13. Gilda Radner as Barbara Walters

"Gilda was the first person to make fun of news anchors. Now it's done all the time, but Gilda was the original. And, of course, I laughed at everybody—as long as it wasn't me.

When Gilda first began to do 'Baba Wawa,' I hated it. I didn't like it. I didn't want to be 'Baba Wawa.' I guess it's good to be made fun of. I guess that means you're slightly famous," she told ABC.

"I don't talk that way, and I do pronounce my Rs. Why did my parents have to name me Bar-bar-a Wal-ters?"

14. Zach Galifianakis as Jennifer Aniston

"I thought it was very funny. I've never been imitated before," the famous actress told InStyle. "I remember watching and going, 'Is that what I do? Do I do that?' It was hysterical."

15. Will Ferrell as Janet Reno

"I thought it was just kind of a spoof of this 6-foot-1 big old girl," Reno stated for The Washington Post. "I can't figure out why anybody's that interested in me."

16. Kristen Wiig as Paula Deen

"I think she is brilliant," Deen says. "She is the most talented female that's been on Saturday Night Live since Gilda Radner."

17. Maya Rudolph as Donatella Versace

"I gave her some suggestions on how to do me better," Versace said. "Because I told her, 'I don't drink. Take off that jewelry because [it is] too fake; I only wear real.'"

18. Vanessa Bayer as Miley Cyrus

"I said, 'You play me on TV!' And she said, 'Yeah, I do.' And I was like, 'Oh, well that's pretty cool,'" Cyrus recalled. "And she goes, 'What?' And I was like, 'Oh my, God! I sound like you doing me!'"

19. Scarlett Johansson as Ivanka Trump

"If being complicit is wanting to be a force for good and to make a positive impact, then I'm complicit," Trump told CBS, referring to Johansson's impersonation.

20. Kenan Thompson as Neil deGrasse Tyson

"I thought they could have done a little better," the astrophysicist said. "If the universe prompts people—artists—to have fun, then more power to it. It is a sign that science has become mainstream and that can only be a good thing."

21. Larry David as Bernie Sanders

"I think we'll use Larry at our next rally," Sanders commented. "He does better than I do."

22. Jay Pharoah as Denzel Washington

"I think the kid is very talented," Washington commented. "I'd seen him before that. He does a thing on YouTube where he does me talking to Will Smith. He's very good at both!"

23. Ariana Grande as Jennifer Lawrence

Calling the imitation "spot-f--king-on," Lawrence told she didn't like the "regular person" line. "That's what other people have said. If I'd said, 'I'm a regular person,' I'd want to kill myself."

24. Fred Armisen as David Paterson

"The governor engages in humor all the time, and he can certainly take a joke. However, this particular Saturday Night Live skit, unfortunately, chose to ridicule people with physical disabilities and imply that disabled people are incapable of having jobs with serious responsibilities," the governor's communications director, Risa B. Heller, stated.

"The governor is sure that Saturday Night Live, with all of its talent, can find a way to be funny without being offensive."

25. Will Ferrell as Alex Trebek

"Every taping, somebody in the audience says, 'How do you feel about the Will Ferrell impression of you on SNL?'" the Jeopardy! host says. "And I say the same thing every time: 'I love it.' I wish he was back on the show so he would do more."

26. Kate McKinnon as Kellyanne Conway

"Kate McKinnon clearly sees the road to the future runs through me and not [Hillary Clinton]," Conway said to The Hollywood Reporter, adding, "I'm known as much happier than maybe the character sometimes is."

27. Ana Gasteyer as Martha Stewart

"There have been many parodies, none of which are very accurate or flattering," Stewart says. "But Ana Gasteyer on SNL did a good job."

28. Jim Carrey as Matthew McConaughey

"They're all derivative compliments as far as I'm concerned," McConaughey said.

29. Maya Rudolph as Oprah Winfrey

Winfrey loved Rudolph so much that the actress was featured in a 2004 episode of The Oprah Winfrey Show "The Funniest People in America."

30. Kate McKinnon as Justin Bieber

"Well played," Bieber tweeted. "LOL."

31. Vanessa Bayer as Jennifer Aniston

"She's the sweetest," the Friends star told Entertainment Tonight. "This is something she's been doing since, you know...she grew up on Friends. This was something she's been doing since her stand-up days."

32. Will Ferrell as George W. Bush

"I had dinner with Lorne Michaels, the head of Saturday Night Live, and he said, 'I put a great speechwriter on you, and he came up with 'strategery.' And I said, 'Wait a minute! I said strategery,'" Bush said on Jimmy Kimmel Live!.

"He said, 'No, you didn't say strategery.' I said, 'I damn sure said strategery.' He said, 'We invented it.' I said, 'Well, let me ask you this: Did he come up with misunderestimate?'"

33. Amy Poehler as Hillary Clinton

"If anybody saw Saturday Night Live," Clinton said during a presidential debate, "maybe we should ask Barack Obama if he's comfortable and needs another pillow."

So, what do you think of these celebs’ reactions? Some of them graciously accepted criticism, while others don’t seem to be very thrilled about seeing themselves in the mirror.

Being able to laugh at yourself is one of the most important qualities. People should remember that. Especially if they are public figures.

Damjan