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Melissa McCarthy Explains How ‘SNL’ Offered Her That Game-Changing Sean Spicer Role

The actress acknowledges that there’s a resemblance with the White House press secretary – and that she could be his love child.
Melissa McCarthy as Sean Spicer, "Saturday Night Live"
Melissa McCarthy as Sean Spicer, "Saturday Night Live"
Will Heath/NBC

It’s safe to say that Melissa McCarthy never expected to play Sean Spicer.

The Emmy-winning actress, however, must have been born to play the role. A friend at “Saturday Night Live” thought she looked enough like the White House press secretary to offer her the gig. In an interview on “Ellen,” McCarthy detailed how that phone call went down.

She also reluctantly acknowledged that she resembled Spicer and had this curious observation: “I look so much like my dad that I feel like my dad and Sean Spicer had a baby, and it’s me, which makes it even stranger.”

READ MORE: ‘Saturday Night Live’: Melissa McCarthy Takes Journalists to Task as Sean Spicer

Getting prosthetics only completed the process. “You mess with your ears and it really changes the shape of your head,” she said. “I got into it because I was like, ‘Can I have eye bags?’ And the answer was yes.”

Watch more of the interview below to see how McCarthy’s husband, actor and producing partner Ben Falcone, felt about her transformation.

McCarthy first debuted her Spicer impression in February to positive reviews. Her take on the White House press secretary presented him as incredibly energetic, condescending and combative with the press.

McCarthy and Falcone are frequent collaborators and their resume includes “Tammy” and “The Boss.” The couple’s TV Land comedy “Nobodies,” about three improv actors who have written a movie as a starring vehicle for Melissa McCarthy, premieres on March 29.

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