2016 Republican presidential hopeful Donald Trump hosted Saturday Night Live this weekend, but one of the episode's best sketches came before Trump's monologue even started. SNL actors Cecily Strong and Kate McKinnon, along with Larry David, perfectly spoofed Rachel Maddow's Democratic forum, which aired live on MSNBC Friday evening. SNL's Democratic forum, though, was actually pretty resemblant of the real thing.
Strong, dressed as Rachel Maddow, interviewed the 2016 Democratic presidential hopefuls, including McKinnon, disguised as former secretary of state Hillary Clinton, and Larry David, who returned to SNL to revive his killer impression of Vermont Sen. Bernie Sanders. Their conversations perfectly parodied the questions Maddow asked the candidates on Friday, as well as their responses. McKinnon's impersonation of Clinton was great, as always. McKinnon-as-Clinton and Strong-as-Maddow joked about how MSNBC's questions for Clinton were "not actually tough, just MSNBC tough," before David made a surprise appearance as Sen. Sanders.
But David-as-Sanders, in particular, was especially spot-on. Strong's Maddow asked Sanders about his campaign finance strategy, a topic that also came up at the actual Democratic forum. Sanders mentioned on Friday, as he has at campaign events in the past, that unlike the other Democratic presidential hopefuls, he's not relying on super PAC contributions to finance his campaign. David's Sanders addressed the issue as well — he suggested that his campaign only takes donations in the form of middle-class money, aka, coins. "I only accept coins, and I'm not talking about fancy coins like dimes and quarters. I just want nickels and pennies," David-as-Sanders said.
David also poked fun at Sanders' struggles to win the African American vote, another issue that Maddow and Sanders discussed at Friday's Democratic forum. A CNN poll before Friday's event found that Clinton had the support of 80 percent of black voters in South Carolina. Maddow noted Friday that Vermont is 95 percent white, and David joked about that fact on SNL, too. "Black people love me," David-as-Sanders said — just before noting that in Vermont, securing 50 percent of the black vote means getting the support of just one voter.
As the episode continued, Trump went on to make fun of himself, too, participating in a sketch about what would happen if he were elected president. But for viewers who watched the Democratic forum on Friday, the spoof sketch was a real treat, too. Let's hope there are more spoofs to come in the 2016 election season.
Watch the full video below:
Image: Saturday Night Live/NBC
