Add another big name to the roster of superstars playing the notorious figures in and around the Trump White House on “Saturday Night Live.”
Steve Martin, a regular visitor to “SNL” since its early days in the ’70s, debuted Saturday as Roger Stone, the longtime Donald Trump advisor who was indicted Friday on charges of lying about his role in Russian meddling during the 2016 election.
In a segment set on Tucker Carlson’s Fox News Channel show, Martin wore Stone’s signature round glasses and pinstripes as he declared the prestige of being indicted made him “the happiest I’ve ever been in my life.”
Defying a game attempt from Carlson (played by the North Shore’s Alex Moffat) to establish Stone as enfeebled and unfit for prosecution, Martin’s Stone bellowed with gusto and dismissed any concerns about his age. At 66, he roared, “I’m almost as old as Sting!”
He explained his attempt at crowdfunding as a response to what he hears on the street — “Hey, Roger, go fund yourself!” — and responded to Carlson’s thanks with, “Pardon me?” Carlson repeated himself.
“No,” shot back Martin, “that wasn’t a question! I was saying that to the president! PARDON ME!!”
Just before offering the “Live from New York” intro, this Stone said, in the style of Martin’s wild-and-crazy declarations of old, “I’m just a normal and straightforward guy!”
Martin joins a star-studded “SNL” repertory company of political impersonators that has included Alec Baldwin as the president, Scarlett Johansson as Ivanka Trump, John Goodman as Rex Tillerson, Bill Murray as Steve Bannon, Matt Damon as Brett Kavanaugh and Ben Stiller as Michael Cohen.
This weekend’s cold open also featured regulars Cecily Strong as Judge Jeanine Pirro and Kate McKinnon playing, for the first time, U.S. Commerce Secretary Wilbur Ross.
