Hillary Clinton was spotted breaking bread with her official Saturday Night Live surrogate, Kate McKinnon, before going to take in Oscar-nominated actress Glenn Close in the Broadway play Sunset Boulevard.
The pair was spotted by a spy for Page Six dining at Orso, the New York City Theater District staple, enjoying a pre-theater dinner Wednesday night ahead of the production—which left The New York Times’ Ben Brantley “awe-struck.”
“Lots of laughter emanated from their table,” said the Page Six source. The tabloid added that one rowdy diner in the restaurant adopted a modified Trump campaign slogan and began chanting, “Lock him up!”
Clinton’s evidently relaxed and amiable attitude to her SNL double stands in marked contrast to the president’s petulant complaints on Twitter about the show following Alec Baldwin’s impression of him.
In one tweet, the president attacked the show, saying, “Saturday Night Live is the worst of NBC. Not funny, cast is terrible, always a complete hit job. Really bad television!” Meanwhile, press secretary Sean Spicer said of Baldwin’s Trump impression: “Alec has gone from funny to mean, and that’s unfortunate. SNL used to be really funny. There’s a streak of meanness now that they’ve crossed over to mean.”
The show has, however, enjoyed a huge ratings spike over recent weeks as its take on the chaotic Trump presidency has connected with viewers. Baldwin has been a key part of that success—as has Melissa McCarthy, whose bang on impression of Spicer has received rave reviews.
According to the Los Angeles Times, the show is having its best season ratings-wise in 22 years, thanks in large part to Baldwin and McCarthy’s skits. Through Feb. 11, the paper reported that “first-run episodes of SNL have averaged 10.64 million viewers”—ratings not seen since the 1993-94 season, which starred Phil Hartman, Chris Farley, Mike Myers, Adam Sandler, and more.
“SNL is doing amazing work right now,” comedian Jordan Peele told The Daily Beast. “Don’t tell people to think, tell people to feel and let them think for themselves.”
Clinton has been maintaining a very low profile since her upset loss to Trump in the November election, but on Thursday, while honoring Oscar de la Renta as the U.S. Postal Service unveiled new stamps featuring the late designer, she appeared to take a shot at Trump, saying: “Oscar de la Renta was an immigrant. What a fitting person to be chosen by our Postal Service, mentioned, by the way, in the Constitution, something we should all read and reread in today’s times… Let there be many, many more immigrants with the love of America that [he] exemplified every single day.”
