Dr. Fauci gets his wish as Brad Pitt plays him in ‘SNL’ cold open
“Saturday Night Live” aired its second at-home episode Saturday night, kicking off the remotely produced show with a cold open featuring Brad Pitt as Dr. Anthony Fauci, the head of the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases.
In a CNN interview earlier this month, Fauci jokingly requested Pitt to portray him on “SNL,” which returned to television with its first at-home episode two weeks ago. Donning a wig, glasses and a Brooklyn accent, Pitt as Fauci pointed out the misinformation President Trump has spread about the coronavirus and offered his own clarifications.
In one clip, the president said there would be vaccines “relatively soon.” “Relatively soon is an interesting phrase,” said Pitt. “Relative to the entire history of Earth? Sure, the vaccine’s going to come real fast. But if you were to tell a friend, ‘I’ll be over relatively soon’ and then showed up a year and a half later, well, your friend may be relatively pissed off.”
In another clip, the president claimed that “anybody that needs a test gets a test” and that they are “beautiful.” Pitt replied, “I don’t know if I would describe the test as beautiful. Unless your idea of beauty is having a cotton swab tickle your brain. Also, when he said everyone can get a test, what he meant was almost no one.”
At the end of the sketch, the actor peeled back his wig and removed his glasses to thank the real Fauci “for your calm and your clarity in this unnerving time.” He also thanked the medical workers and their families before launching the episode with “live, kind of, from all across America, it’s Saturday night.”
Besides Pitt, there were a handful of other celebrity cameos including Adam Sandler and Rob Schneider, who appeared in a musical segment with Pete Davidson; Fred Armisen, Jason Sudeikis and Charles Barkley who appeared in the recurring talk show bit “What Up With That?” via Zoom and musical guest Miley Cyrus, who performed a cover of Pink Floyd’s “Wish You Were Here.”
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