Stars Who Got Roasted By SNL And Loved It

Saturday Night Live is in the business of making fun of people. Be they politicians, celebrities, or momentary newsmakers — particularly if they do something controversial or behave badly. The more famous you are, the more likely it is that somebody is going to throw on a wig and impersonate you (and your looks and your voice) in a sketch on SNL, or they're going to tell a joke or two at your expense during "Weekend Update."

But that's kind of the price of celebrity, or at least a life lived in the public eye; criticism is part of the fame game. One can either get their feelings hurt and complain loudly about how a late-night TV comedy show was sort of, a little, or not very mean... or one can accept it for what it is. If they make fun of you on SNL, you've clearly made it big. Here are some famous people with a good sense of humor about themselves who weren't only not offended when Saturday Night Live teased them, but who were pleased or even thrilled.

Before he played broad and wacky characters in movies — Ron Burgundy in Anchorman, Ricky Bobby in Talladega Nights, Brennan in Step Brothers — Will Ferrell played over-the-top goofs on Saturday Night Live, like bizarro versions of Neil Diamond, Harry Caray, and Robert Goulet. But Ferrell's most famous SNL work might be for showing restraint and simmering, barely released rage as Alex Trebek, frustrated host of "Celebrity Jeopardy!" Ferrell's version of the beloved game show presenter was the butt of cruel taunts from Darrell Hammond's crude Sean Connery and ridiculous pranks by Norm Macdonald's smarmy Burt Reynolds. Ferrell portrayed Trebek more than a dozen times over the years, and while his voice work wasn't overly accurate, he nailed the Jeopardy! host's clipped delivery style and rocked the iconic mustache. Trebek himself was a huge fan of the recurring "Celebrity Jeopardy!" sketches. "I loved them," he told the Archive of American Television.

"It means you've arrived," Trebek said. "If you do a take-off of somebody, it's a sign that you believe your audience will immediately recognize who you're poking fun at." While he appreciated Ferrell's take, Trebek thought somebody else did a technically better impression, on SCTV. "Eugene Levy I maintain to this day did the best Alex Trebek ever, better than Will Ferrell," the host said in the aforementioned interivew. "He looked more the part, too. He had the dark hair and he had the black mustache."

One of the most prominent new newsmakers of the year 2020 was, without a doubt, Dr. Anthony Fauci, director of the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases since 1984, and the public face of governmental and scientific response to the COVID-19 pandemic in the United States. In the early weeks of the public health crisis, Dr. Fauci helped deliver daily high-profile White House briefings, which is the kind of thing Saturday Night Live would definitely spoof. In April 2020, CNN's Alisyn Camerota asked Dr. Fauci who he'd like to play him, should SNL decide to spoof him. "Oh, Brad Pitt, of course," Fauci said with a laugh. 

About two weeks later, when SNL aired an episode full of material filmed by cast members at their homes, Pitt put in a guest appearance in the show's opening sketch, portraying Dr. Fauci with the aid of a white wig and glasses. At the end of the bit, Pitt broke character, removing the wig and spectacles to thank first responders, doctors, nurses, and Dr. Fauci himself for working so hard to contain and treat the coronavirus. The real Dr. Fauci was touched. "I think he showed that he is really a class guy when at the end he took off his hair and thanked me and all of the heathcare workers," Dr. Fauci told Telemundo's Un Nuevo Dia (via Deadline). "So, not only is he a really great actor but he is actually a classy person."

Pop and R&B diva Ariana Grande obviously has a tremendous voice — she probably wouldn't have scored so many hit songs and sold as many albums as she has if she couldn't sing — but she's also got some comic chops. After all, she did get her big break on the Nickelodeon teen sitcom Victorious, playing the comedically bountiful role of the dumb and naive Cat Valentine. As such, Grande was invited to put all of her skills to use as both host and the musical guest of a March 2016 episode of Saturday Night Live.

One particularly well-received sketch from the installment: "Celebrity Family Feud." The recurring sketch is a clearinghouse for cast members to trot out impressions of famous people, and this one pitted famous directors against acclaimed actors. Leading the actors team was Grande as toast of Hollywood and Oscar-winner Jennifer Lawrence. Grande not only nailed Lawrence's unique speaking voice, but also her persona and persistent insistence that she's not a diva. "They told me not to do a game show, but I was like screw it," Grande said, in character. "I can have fun, I'm a regular person." Evidently, Lawrence does like to have fun and is a regular person, because she enjoyed Grande's impression. She told Vogue that it was "spot-f******-on."

It's rare that a Supreme Court justice becomes a pop culture icon or someone with whom the non-political-junkie, general public is intensely familiar, but Ruth Bader Ginsburg was just that special. Appointed by President Bill Clinton in 1993 after decades of crusading and often feminist-driven legal work, she inspired the narrative film On the Basis of Sex (starring Felicity Jones as Ginsburg) and was the subject of the popular documentary RBG. Those initials became a commonly used moniker, and her face adorned coffee mugs, T-shirts and other merchandise, both with and without the crown that likened her to the Notorious B.I.G.

Such a public figure is likely going to be impersonated on Saturday Night Live, and Kate McKinnon obliged, creating a Ginsberg character and performing as her frequently on "Weekend Update." As the justice, McKinnon would offer withering put-downs of newsmakers and that the subject had received a "Gins-burn," before jumping up to dance provocatively for a few seconds. In a stage interview with NPR's Nina Totenberg in conjunction with the release of the RGB documentary in 2018, Ginsburg admitted that she'd seen the SNL bits and liked them. "I liked the actress who portrayed me," Ginsburg said. "And I would like to say 'Gins-burn!' sometimes to my colleagues." (Now that's a Gins-burn.")

While Saturday Night Live's assessment of President Donald Trump's administration has been strongly and bluntly critical (which includes Alec Baldwin's impersonation of the Commander-in-Chief as a constantly pouting egomaniac), cast member Cecily Strong went a different way with her portrayal First Lady Melania Trump, presenting her as an innocent mildly distant individual in way over her head and sometimes racked with guilt over her role in supporting as divisive a figure as her husband.

In 2018, Strong appeared on The Tonight Show, and mentioned that the First Lady appreciates her impersonation. She told host Jimmy Fallon that when Donald Trump hosted SNL in 2015 and Melania Trump came to the cast dinner, she and Strong had a brief interaction. "She pointed at me when she walked in," Strong said, "and then I think [Donald] said, 'She likes your impression.'" Strong added that she's heard from sources close to the First Lady that Trump regularly watched SNL and that she "likes it."

Dana Carvey was arguably one of Saturday Night Live's biggest stars in the late 1980s and early '90s, portraying Garth in "Wayne's World" sketches, one half of bodybuilder duo Hans and Franz, the ultra-judgmental Church Lady, and perhaps most notably, his wildly silly impersonation of President George H.W. Bush. Carvey nailed the specific timbre of Bush's voice, but his mannerisms and favored phrases were almost purely invented — Bush didn't really say "Not gonna do it, wouldn't be prudent," nor did he mug or wave and point as much as Carvery's version of him did.

Bush lost his re-election bid in November 1992, and showing appreciation for all of Carvey's ribbing, if not marking the end of an era with a show of good faith, Bush invited Carvey to a White House party in December. It was as much of a holiday affair as it was a send-off party for staffers who'd be out of a job when Bill Clinton was inaugurated in a month. Carvey arrived the day before, and Bush put him up in the illustrious Lincoln Bedroom, reserved for distinguished guests. Carvey entered the party and did his Bush impression for the crowd, and was followed by the president. "Dana has given me a lot of laughs," he said. "And the fact that we can laugh at each other is a very fundamental thing."