Saturday Night Live’s Kate McKinnon made a recent appearance on The Ellen DeGeneres Show and did something she’s never done before: impersonate Ellen DeGeneres live on her talk show. Specifically, the Ghostbusters actress stood out on stage with Ellen and performed the show’s opening monologue along with her, wearing the exact same outfit and hairstyle.
“ I got this, blondie. Step aside ,” McKinnon told DeGeneres, causing laughter in the audience, reports Today .
Kate McKinnon, 32, slipped on a funny Ellen voice and began talking to the audience, who had her first appearance on the show back in 2013.
“Hi, y’all. Happy Wednesday. I gotta tell you about something that happened last night up at the house. Portia de Rossi and I got a puppy and we named it Kid to make it sound like we have a kid. Funnily enough a kid is also a baby goat. And I love baby goats! I love ’em! I love baby goats!” McKinnon said. “True story: I once went on a ski vacation with a baby goat.”
The real Ellen DeGeneres reassured the audience that none of this was true just before Kate began talking about one of the “ kitty cats ” at her home. Ellen interrupted to say that she doesn’t use the term “kitty-cat,” to which Kate disagreed and showed a clip of herself saying “kitty cat” over and over.
“That doesn’t count,” DeGeneres replied.
Kate McKinnon dresses up as Ellen DeGeneres to meet Ellen DeGeneres: https://t.co/J7QFjD7SVl pic.twitter.com/6QpZMpoH72
— E! News (@enews) February 24, 2016
After all of the opening shenanigans, Kate McKinnon took a seat across from Ellen and did a proper, regular interview. The two discussed Kate’s time on SNL , impersonating celebrities like DeGeneres and Justin Bieber and politician Hillary Clinton while she is standing next to them on stage. McKinnon said that, naturally, she tends to be nervous during those kinds of sketches.
“It is a lot of pressure,” McKinnon said, “because all of my impressions come out of absolute love for whoever I’m doing. It is nerve-wracking, because it’s kind of like getting caught playing dress-up in your mom’s closet and you just want to be like, ‘Mommy, am I pretty?’”
Kate McKinnon’s most well-known impersonation at this point has to be that of the current Democratic presidential candidate Hillary Clinton. The two even did a sketch together in which Hillary did her own impersonation of Republican presidential candidate Donald Trump, one that McKinnon happens to really enjoy. McKinnon’s version of Hillary Clinton portrays her as a cold, ruthless politician who seems to be obsessed with making it to the White House. McKinnon is a Clinton supporter herself.
Kate McKinnon Drops By ‘Ellen’ To Say She’s The Real Ellen: What is the self? Are any of us truly individuals… https://t.co/pr69jf9Cfu
— General Congo (@GeneralCongo) February 24, 2016
“I love her so much,” DeGeneres told the audience, referring to Kate. “But it’s weird to have somebody do impressions of you because you hear it and you’re like, ‘Well, that’s such an exaggeration. I mean, it’s funny, but that doesn’t sound like me at all.’ And then the next day your friends call you up and they’re like, ‘Did you see Kate on ‘SNL’? She sounded exactly like you.’”
Kate McKinnon is going to be heading in a new direction in her career this summer, when Paul Feig’s Ghostbusters reboot opens in theaters. Kate plays Jillian Holtzmann in the movie alongside SNL alum Kristen Wiig, Melissa McCarthy, and current Saturday Night Live cast member Leslie Jones.
“Nothing normalizes the new quite like seeing it on the screen.” — Kate McKinnon on Paul Feig’s #Ghostbusters https://t.co/NphaRdVbW8
— The Mary Sue (@TheMarySue) February 23, 2016
SNL was definitely the ultimate dream job for McKinnon. Prior to being cast as a regular on the show, she spent a few years sending in audition tapes through her manager. They never really garnered a reaction or response. Once she had made the move to Los Angeles and got her feet wet a little more, her manager came through and was able to land her an audition, which she did on the SNL stage with Lorne Michaels watching.
[Photo by Matthew Eisman/Getty Images for Athena Film Festival]
