This was a banner year for Saturday Night Live. While past seasons have been epic in mocking President George W. Bush, Ross Perot and Gerald Ford, this year's portrayals of President Donald Trump's administration will go down in the annals of television history.
Here are the best and most popular examples of SNL's portrayals of Trump and his White House from 2017.
1. Melissa McCarthy was better at being Sean Spicer than Sean Spicer was:
Spicer apologized for getting relations with the press off to a rocky start, “And by ‘rocky,’ I mean the movie cos I came out here to punch you in the face. Also, I don’t talk so good.”
"I've been told to cut back on the gum chewing, so I'm limiting myself to one slice a day," McCarthy said holding up a massive chunk of gum. The reference was from a bizarre profile on Spicer by Washington Post writer Ben Terris, who discovered that Spicer chews and swallows over two dozen pieces of gum daily.
2. Trump takes his case to "The People's Court":
In previous episodes, fake Sean Spicer told the press briefing that the U.S. Appellate Courts didn't matter, rather it was the "People's Court" that really matter. In fact, as the previous skit joked, the "People's Court" depicts real cases and the judge's outcome is final. Thus, Trump thought it was the perfect place to fight his legal battles.
3. The introduction of Grim Reaper Steve Bannon:
For most characters of political figures, SNL cast members exaggerate the flaws or silliness of a particular official. Spicer's yelling, Obama's ears, Trump's constant gestures and the strange way Jeff Sessions holds his mouth are all ways the actors have ridiculed the officials. With Bannon, however, SNL went full reaper.
4. Trump "can't wait to give it to Paul Ryan for 4 years"
No one has been lampooned more this year than Speaker Paul Ryan by compromising his conservative principles, his religious principles, indeed any principles he had left. "I'm not gay or anything, but I can't wait to give it to Paul Ryan for four years," Trump hilariously says in this skit.
5. Sewer rat and psychopath Kellyanne Conway is so desperate to get on television she's like the creepy clown waiting in the gutter or worse in CNN host Jake Tapper's house.
With Anderson Cooper, a policeman had to warn the anchor that Conway attempts to lure people in all day by spouting her craziest talking points.
A Tapper portrayal, with less hair, showed a disturbing glimpse at the lengths Conway was willing to go to get on CNN.
6. In this epic segment, Alec Baldwin interviewed Alec Baldwin.
A creepy Bill O'Reilly opens his show implying "no" really doesn't means "no," but the interview with Donald Trump took Baldwin's portrayal up a notch.
5. Complicit -- a new fragrance by Ivanka Trump
"She's a woman who knows what she wants -- and she knows what she's doing. She's .... complicit."
6. Tina Fey on how to deal with the alt-right.
The former University of Virginia student and SNL icon took a moment to speak truth to racism and eat her feelings over the horrors of the uprising from white supremacists over the last year.
7. Jeff Sessions as Forest Gump
Kate McKinnon's portrayal of Jeff Sessions is one of the most hilarious and disturbing depictions of a leader yet. In one of her most popular skits, Sessions is shown as a kind of "Forest Gump" character talking to people on a bus bench.
"I was on the cover of the New York Times, you wanna see?" Sessions asked one man.
"This says you may have committed perjury," the man responds, horrified.
"Yeah, I had a bad week," Sessions admited.
8. Jimmy Fallon as Jared Kushner
Jared Kushner has been Trump's right-hand man with a hefty plate of issues and problems to solve. Yet, it was several months before the world even heard Kushner speak. Instead, Kushner has only been seen posing in photos and flashing his dimples. Fallon came back to his old stomping grounds with a flawless performance.
9. Vladimir Putin
The perfection of Putin's portrayal by Beck Bennett is in it's simplicity: costume simplicity. The shirtless actor puffs his chest and his hair and is instantly the Russian leader.
"Many of you are marching in the streets afraid that your country is in the hands of this unpredictable man. But don't worry... it's not," Putin jokes, a little too on the nose.
10. The "Morning Joe" that was a little too accurate than we wanted to admit.
11. Musical numbers that absolutely crushed it.
After the #MeToo uprising, an SNL music video of women explaining that harassment, danger, rape and threats are normal everyday "business as usual" for most women. The only way this isn't the most depressing thing you'll see is because it's done like a Katy Perry video.
Welcome to hell:
Kellyanne Conway's dance number to a tune from the musical Chicago: "Who says lying is not an art"
The 1990s Boyz2Men-style video is a love song to the long lost president that America misses.