Gov. Whitmer Spoofed on SNL, Michigan Beer Makes a Cameo [VIDEO]
Saturday Night Live's Cecily Strong brought back her Gov. Gretchen Whitmer impression for the show's cold open Feb. 27th in a sketch called "So You Think You Can Get the Vaccine?"
Host of the satirical game show is Kate McKinnon as Dr. Anthony Fauci who explains, "Now getting the vaccine shouldn't be a competition, but Americans will only want to get it if someone else can't."
The panel of judges is then introduced: Governors who've been making the news this year. It includes California's Gavin Newsom played by Alex Moffatt, New York's Andrew Cuomo played by Pete Davidson, and Stong as Michigan's Gov. Whitmer.
In welcoming her to the show, McKinnon's Fauci says,
Our next judge narrowly escaped being kidnapped by a group of men whose fingerprints probably had Cheetos dust on them.
Strong's Whitmer said it was an honor to be a judge alongside her fellow governors:
People yell at them about their policies, and they yell at me, 'Get her!' But, hey, that's life.
And then we see her take a swig out of a recognizable bottle: Bell's Oberon! The West Michigan beer making an appearance is a reference to Strong's first appearance as Whitmer, in which the Governor sipped on a Labatt, and some Michiganders were UP IN ARMS about that on the Internet. In case you missed that sketch last spring, you can check it out below.
Each governor goes on to list what's considered an "essential worker" in their state. For Michigan it's "fishers, truckers, trappers, and drifters".
The first contestant to appear is also a Michigander, played by Heidi Gardner, who sports a U of M sweatshirt and thinks she should be eligible to get the vaccine because she sees her job as essential: doing IT for OnlyFans.
We also see Ego Nwodim as a contestant who's dressing as a granny to get the vaccine, and Bowen Yang as a New Jersey resident who's pretending to love smoking in the hopes of getting a shot. Aidy Bryant returns as Ted Cruz too, who has infiltrated the show, thinking he's on a talent show to show off his "comedy" skills.
Here's the "Message from Gov. Whitmer" sketch from last year, which touched on the Stay at Home order and the Governor being called "That woman from Michigan", while she swigs (gasp!) a Labatt.