12 Celebrities Who Criticized Their “SNL” Impersonations
12 Celebrities Who Criticized Their “SNL” Impersonations
Stephanie Sengwe, Samantha StutsmanSat, April 18, 2026 at 11:00 AM UTC
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Mark Wahlberg; Kathie Lee Gifford; Sarah Palin.Credit: Leon Bennett/Getty; Axelle/Bauer-Griffin/FilmMagic; Jason Mendez/Getty
The laughs don’t always land on Saturday Night Live — at least not with the people being portrayed.
For decades, the NBC sketch comedy show has built its reputation on turning famous faces into punchlines, taking aim at everyone from reality stars to politicians and beyond. If it’s making headlines, chances are it’s fair game on Studio 8H.
While some celebrities have embraced their on-screen counterparts — even joining in on the joke — others haven’t been nearly as amused by their late-night look-alikes.
In 2025, White Lotus star Aimee Lou Wood called Sarah Sherman's impersonation "mean and unfunny," while celebrities like Anderson Cooper and Neil deGrasse Tyson thought their portrayals fell flat.
From Britney Spears to Mark Wahlberg, here are 12 celebrities who have publicly criticized their SNL impersonations.
01 of 12
Aimee Lou Wood
Credit: Saturday Night Live/YouTiube; Fabio Lovino/HBO
Following the White Lotus season 3 finale, SNL aired its own take on the show in a sketch titled White POTUS.
In a parody that aired in April 2025, Chelsea — played by Wood in the HBO show — makes a brief appearance, as portrayed by Sherman with cartoonishly large teeth, reacting to an RFK Jr.-related joke about fluoride. While it was meant to be a lighthearted nod to all the positive buzz surrounding Wood's unique smile, the English actress didn't take too kindly to the impersonation.
"I did find the SNL thing mean and unfunny," the English actress wrote on her Instagram Stories. "Such a shame cuz I had such a great time watching it a couple weeks ago."
"Yes, take the piss for sure — that's what the show is about — but there must be a cleverer, more nuanced, less cheap way?" she added.
02 of 12
Sarah Palin
Credit: Will Heath/NBCU Photo Bank/NBCUniversal via Getty; Ross D Franklin/AP/Shutterstock
Tina Fey brought the laughs and won an Emmy for her portrayal of Sarah Palin. Though the masses loved their lookalike moments, Palin herself wasn't too fond of the impersonation.
To try get some control back, Palin made an appearance on the show. "I know that they portrayed me as an idiot, and I hated that, and I wanted to come on the show and counter some of that," Palin said in Live From New York: The Complete, Uncensored History of Saturday Night Live as Told By Its Stars, Writers and Guests.
In fact, the former governor of Alaska felt like Fey should pay it forward. "If I ran into Tina Fey again today, I would say: You need to pay for my kid's braces or something with all the money that you made off of pretending that you are me!" she joked. "My goodness, you capitalized on that! Can't you contribute a little bit? Jeez!"
03 of 12
Anderson Cooper
Jon Rudnitsky as Anderson CooperCredit: Dana Edelson/NBCU Photo Bank/NBCUniversal via Getty; Mike Coppola/Getty
He may be stoic, but Cooper has been known to enjoy a good chuckle. However, when it came to how Jon Rudnitsky portrayed him on Saturday Night Live in 2015, the CNN anchor was disappointed in how much the impression lacked nuance.
"I'm not easily offended, but I didn't think it was particularly good," he said during an October 2015 appearance on Watch What Happens Live. "I'm all for being spoofed. I did think it was a little odd. It was like the only thing he knew about me was that I'm gay, so that's sort of what we went with."
04 of 12
Sean Spicer
Credit: Will Heath/NBCU Photo Bank/NBCUniversal via Getty; Will Heath/NBCU Photo Bank/NBCUniversal via Getty
Melissa McCarthy's turn as former White House press secretary Sean Spicer remains one of the funniest from the sketch show.
However, a Feb. 5, 2017, episode in which she brought out silly, over-the-top props to satirize her impression of a Spicer-led White House press conference did not go over well with Spicer — and he had notes.
According to CBS News, the former press secretary felt McCarthy "could dial back" a bit and that she "needs to slow down on the gum chewing" as there were "way too many pieces in there."
In his book, The Briefing: Politics, the Press, and the President, which came out after he left the White House, Spicer revealed he actually did like the impression.
“I had no choice but to laugh. Like many SNL sketches, I think they milked it too long, but there was no denying it was funny," he wrote.
05 of 12
Mark Wahlberg
Credit: Saturday Night Live/YouTube; Gregg DeGuire/FilmMagic
Despite his comedy experience, Wahlberg didn't find Andy Samberg's take on him to be funny.
While talking to the New York Post in October 2008, Wahlberg revealed that not only did he not find the sketch to be accurate, but, in his opinion, SNL had lost its luster, too.
"Someone showed it to me on YouTube. It wasn’t like Tina Fey doing Sarah Palin, that’s for sure," he said. "And Saturday Night Live hasn’t been funny for a long time. They’ve asked me to do the show a ton of times. I used to watch it when Eddie Murphy was there and Joe Piscopo and Bill Murray. I don’t even know who’s on the show now."
06 of 12
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Kathie Lee Gifford
Credit: Dana Edelson/NBCU Photo Bank/NBCUniversal via Getty; Nathan Congleton/NBCU Photo Bank/NBCUniversal via Getty
Kathie Lee Gifford and Hoda Kotb were an unstoppable duo as cohosts of the Today show, and it's easy to see how their hilarious antics were a comedy writer's dream. However, in a season 35 episode, Kristen Wiig portrayed the host as a bumbling and disoriented drunk, and Gifford was not happy.
“Everyone seems to enjoy it, but I don’t think it’s that funny," she said during a segment on the Today show. "Can’t she get another job? Go off and do something else?”
07 of 12
Meghan McCain
Credit: Saturday Night Live/YouTube; Walter McBride/Getty
Meghan McCain initially played along when SNL cast member Aidy Bryant parodied her on the variety show. However, while speaking to Rolling Stone in October 2021, McCain revealed she wasn't too pleased with Bryant's take.
"People really loved it when SNL dunked on me, and it was not flattering or kind. And, by the way, they were pretty nice to the rest of the [View] cast, just not great to me," she told the publication.
"I feel like I have a pretty healthy sense of humor. But I think if people knew what it has done to me mentally, emotionally, the toll it’s taken on me, the depression that has followed … just the dark spirals," she explained. "I felt like for a while, I was just the laughingstock of the country. And it’s not true or fair or accurate, but when you’re your worst critic in your head, it’s very hard."
08 of 12
Kellyanne Conway
Credit: Rosalind O'Connor/NBCU Photo Bank/NBCUniversal via Getty; Scott Eisen/Getty
Kellyanne Conway had notes for Kate McKinnon, who played her in season 42.
"Make her a little bit more happy. I'm known for being much more happy than the character sometimes is," Conway told The Hollywood Reporter in January 2017 before mentioning a few sketches that got her approval. "I liked the 'Walking on Sunshine.' The 'Kellyanne Conway's Day Off.' That was more me."
09 of 12
Carole Baskin
Chloe Fineman as Carole BaskinCredit: Saturday Night Live/YouTube; Tasos Katopodis/Getty
Carole Baskin shot to fame during the COVID-19 pandemic as people across the nation were binge-watching Tiger King.
Her fame accelerated when Chloe Fineman did an impersonation of her on SNL, which fans thought was spot-on. Baskin, however, strongly disagreed.
"I could just slap that woman!" she said of Fineman during an appearance on a now-deleted episode of The Pet Show podcast hosted by Dennis Quaid and Jimmy Jellinek.
"This whole, 'My kitty, meow, meow, kitty, meow, and then she would just say these really weird words all in a row," she said. "That all became popular, I guess, in popular culture and people wanted me to talk like that on the Cameos. And I’m like, ‘I have no idea how to talk like that. That is not how I speak."
10 of 12
Britney Spears
Ariana Grande, Britney SpearsCredit: Dana Edelson/NBCU Photo Bank/NBCUniversal via Getty; Dimitrios Kambouris/WireImage
Spears has been the subject of many impressions, so when Ariana Grande took a turn at mimicking the Princess of Pop's signature voice, the "Gimme More" singer was left ... well, wanting more.
"That’s funny. That’s really funny, wow," she said during a September 2016 interview on London's KISS FM U.K., according to ET Online. "I've heard better."
Still, Britney made sure it was clear that she was a fan of Grande's. "She’s very good ... I love her voice. It’s very smooth. Her real voice."
11 of 12
Neil deGrasse Tyson
Kenan Thompson as Neil deGrasse TysonCredit: Will Heath/NBCU Photo Bank/NBCUniversal via Getty; Sean Zanni/Patrick McMullan via Getty
Tyson is good-humored about a lot of things, but Kenan Thompson's impersonation of him is not one of them.
"I thought they could have done a little bit better," the astrophysicist told Business Insider in May 2014.
He then revealed what he would say to Lorne Michaels should the two ever run into each other, telling the outlet, "Lorne, I'm honored and flattered that you would think of representing me, particularly in that context on Fox News. But I think your comedians and actors have more accurately portrayed other people than he [Kenan] portrayed me. So there's some room for improvement."
12 of 12
Barbara Walters
Credit: Disney General Entertainment Content via Getty; NBC
One of the most famous impressions from SNL's early days was Gilda Radner's take on Barbara Walters, which she pronounced "Baba Wawa," an exaggeration of Walters' distinctive way of pronouncing her Rs. It wasn't an immediate hit with Walters.
"I hated the Gilda Radner 'Baba Wawa' until I walked into my daughter's room one night — she was up watching it ... I said, 'What are you doing up?' and she said 'I'm watching Baba Wawa,' " she said during an interview with The Television Academy Foundation.
She told her daughter Jacqueline how much she despised the impression, to which her daughter responded, "Oh Mommy, lighten up."
"And then — I did!" Walters recalled.
on People
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