--- title: Watch Melissa McCarthy on Ellen on Sean Spicer VIDEO description: Melissa McCarthy reveals the secret to transforming into Press Secretary Sean Spicer for Saturday Night Live. canonical: https://time.com/4712222/melissa-mccarthy-on-sean-spicer-video/ author: Melissa Locker article:opinion: false article:content_tier: free article:published_time: 2017-03-24T17:56:22.000Z article:modified_time: 2026-04-13T07:42:12.833Z og:title: Watch Melissa McCarthy Explain How She Becomes Sean Spicer og:description: It's not easy to transform Melissa McCarthy into the press secretary og:url: https://time.com/4712222/melissa-mccarthy-on-sean-spicer-video/ og:site_name: TIME og:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/bltde093bcdab65f2d0/6988d9b9bc6cfc69913e2a3c/time-logo.jpg?branch=production og:image:width: 1200 og:image:height: 675 og:image:alt: TIME og:type: article twitter:card: summary_large_image twitter:title: Watch Melissa McCarthy Explain How She Becomes Sean Spicer twitter:description: It's not easy to transform Melissa McCarthy into the press secretary twitter:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/bltde093bcdab65f2d0/6988d9b9bc6cfc69913e2a3c/time-logo.jpg?branch=production --- # Watch Melissa McCarthy Explain How She Transforms Into _Saturday Night Live's_ Sean Spicer by [Melissa Locker](https://time.com/author/melissa-locker/) ## Melissa Locker Mar 24, 2017 5:56 PM UTC by [Melissa Locker](https://time.com/author/melissa-locker/) ## Melissa Locker Mar 24, 2017 5:56 PM UTC [Melissa McCarthy’s](http://time.com/collection-post/4299845/melissa-mccarthy-2016-time-100/?iid=sr-link3) portrayal of press secretary [Sean “Spicey” Spicer](http://time.com/4669781/saturday-night-live-sean-spicer-melissa-mccarthy-supercut/?iid=sr-link1) has earned big laughs on _Saturday Night Live._ Part of the charm of McCarthy’s impersonation is her radical transformation from red-headed star of _Bridesmaids_ and _Ghostbusters_ to Spicer with his exhausted demeanor, receding hairline, and sleepy eyes. S When [McCarthy](http://time.com/4309029/melissa-mccarthy-time-100-gala/?iid=sr-link4) stopped by _The Ellen DeGeneres_ _Show_ Friday, she revealed some of the secrets to her transformation. Turns out that when _SNL_ initially approached McCarthy about [playing Spicer](http://time.com/4660549/melissa-mccarthy-sean-spicer-saturday-night-live-donald-trump/?iid=sr-link7), she didn’t think it would be possible. That didn’t stop her from saying yes, though, and after they used prosthetics to push her ears forward, she got into it. “I was like, can I have eye bags?” she said. “And the answer was yes.” She has mixed feelings about the results though. “I feel I look so much like my dad,” said McCarthy. “I feel like my dad and Sean Spicer had a baby and it’s me.” ```json [{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"NewsArticle","@id":"https://time.com/4712222/melissa-mccarthy-on-sean-spicer-video/","mainEntityOfPage":{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https://time.com/4712222/melissa-mccarthy-on-sean-spicer-video/"},"headline":"Watch Melissa McCarthy Explain How She Transforms Into Saturday Night Live's Sean Spicer","datePublished":"2017-03-24T17:56:22.000Z","dateModified":"2026-04-13T07:42:12.833Z","description":"It's not easy to transform Melissa McCarthy into the press secretary","url":"https://time.com/4712222/melissa-mccarthy-on-sean-spicer-video/","keywords":["Newsfeed","Television","politics","SNL","Ellen Degeneres","melissa mccarthy","The Ellen Show","sean spicer"],"thumbnailUrl":"","author":[{"@type":"Person","name":"Melissa Locker","jobTitle":"","url":"https://time.com/author/melissa-locker/"}],"articleSection":"","image":[],"publisher":{"@type":"Organization","name":"Time","url":"https://time.com/","logo":{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https://time.com/images/logo.png","width":528,"height":156},"foundingDate":"March 3, 1923","sameAs":["https://www.facebook.com/time","https://www.instagram.com/time/?hl=en","https://twitter.com/time","https://www.pinterest.com/timemagazine"]}},{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"BreadcrumbList","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"item":{"@id":"/tag/time-section-newsfeed/","name":"Newsfeed"}},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"item":{"@id":"https://time.com/4712222/melissa-mccarthy-on-sean-spicer-video/","name":"Watch Melissa McCarthy Explain How She Transforms Into Saturday Night Live's Sean Spicer"}}]}] ```