Melissa McCarthy is one of the most accomplished and talented comedians working right now whether that distinction is based off of physical comedy or simply line delivery. That means that she’s also one of the people most likely to make other people break during the middle of a live piece of comedy. But on this week’s Saturday Night Live episode the tables were turned on McCarthy as she couldn’t help but break repeatedly during a sketch featuring Kate McKinnon.
This sketch isn’t the first time that we’ve seen McKinnon’s aging starlet character. It’s probably one of the strongest original characters in her stable right now, and with all of Kate’s work with the political rotation of characters lately it’s nice to see this favorite return while an equally strong performer like McCarthy is in the house.
Try as she might, McCarthy is no match for McKinnon’s character and is in constant hysterics throughout the sketch. It’s not always fun to watch people break during sketches on the show (repetitiveness, thy name is Fallon), but in this case, it’s a testament to how easily two powerhouses in the industry can make each other lose it at the drop of a hat. It can’t be easy to make Melissa McCarthy laugh endlessly in the middle of a live sketch — considering she didn’t even break when covered with a face full of pie during the same episode — but it happened and it’s a pretty glorious thing to watch.
