President Barack Obama wanted to clear up the “series of unfortunate events” that occurred at the memorial service for South African leader Nelson Mandela. But he just couldn’t catch a break, as his press conference explanation was derailed by yet another stream of interruptions on this week’s Saturday Night Live.
Fake POTUS — played by Jay Pharoah — held a presser to talk about the progress of HealthCare.gov. But first, he attempted to address the world leader selfie, his handshake with Raúl Castro and the fake sign language interpreter that had sparked so much controversy in the past few days.
“I felt like Lemony Snicket,” Obama said of the service, “because I experienced a series of unfortunate events.”
Obama explained that he was roped into taking the selfie. He then clarified that he shook Castro’s hand only because “he told me he was Edward James Olmos,” the actor.
Then, as the mock President transitioned to talking about the Obamacare website progress, he was hit with another series of unfortunate events.
The first time, he was interrupted by a smiley-faced sign language interpreter — played by Kenan Thompson — who signed gibberish as the President spoke. The obviously fake interpreter ‘raised the roof’ as the translation for “concerns are being raised,” flung imaginary Spiderman webs for “huge improvements in our website,” and danced the Thriller dance for “not that thrilled with the results.”
The President was then interrupted by the German Chancellor Angela Merkel — played by Kate McKinnon. She wanted to get a selfie with him, and when the President refused, she played her trump card.
“I feel like you kind of owe me after ze whole wire tapping mine cell phone zing,” she told him.
And just when Merkel was dragged away by security — after snapping two selfies — the sign language interpreter reappeared.
The writers at SNL probably hope there’s another large world event coming up soon for the President to go to — he’s proving to be true comedy gold!
Watch the cold open below:
