Back in April, when Dr. Anthony Fauci was just starting to become a household name, Brad Pitt momentarily broke the internet by embodying the nation’s top infectious disease expert and speaking out against Trump in a way the real Fauci never has.
This week, it was Kate McKinnon’s turn. Saturday Night Live’s most versatile cast member, who spent last week’s cold open crushing Rudy Giuliani, appeared as Fauci alongside Heidi Gardner’s Deborah Birx to help preview the highly anticipated vaccine rollout.
“Yes, the vaccine is approved and I am officially joining the Biden administration to continue the fight against COVID,” McKinnon said, nailing Fauci’s Brooklyn accent.
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“And I think I’ll be joining as well, right?” Birx added. “Remember when Trump said to inject bleach and I did a stanky little face? And I almost whispered, ‘No.’”
Asked what he makes of President Trump’s vaccine plan, Fauci replied, “I try not to comment, but this president has done as good a job as I did throwing out the first pitch at the Nationals game.”
When he got embarrassed by the clip of that moment, Birx told him, “We all mess up sometimes. You threw the ball wrong, I didn’t say ‘don’t drink bleach.’”
Throughout the rest of the less-than-inspired opening sketch, unseen women repeatedly threw their bras at Fauci, who marveled at the fact that because of the low bar set by Trump, he has somehow become a “10” when in “any other year” he’d be a two.
“Hopefully if enough Americans get this vaccine you’ll all forget who I am,” Fauci concluded. “That’s my goal, to have zero name recognition with Americans. Because that means I’ll have done my job well. I want to go back to being an anonymous hunk.”
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