--- title: Best of Kate McKinnon's Angela Merkel Impression: SNL Clips description: TIME's Person of the Year has been spoofed on SNL several times canonical: https://time.com/4142893/angela-merkel-kate-mckinnon-snl/ author: Samantha Grossman article:opinion: false article:content_tier: free article:published_time: 2015-12-09T17:40:39.000Z article:modified_time: 2026-10-05T08:41:24.375Z og:title: See the Best of Kate McKinnon's Hilarious Angela Merkel Impression og:description: TIME's Person of the Year has been spoofed on SNL several times og:url: https://time.com/4142893/angela-merkel-kate-mckinnon-snl/ og:site_name: TIME og:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt0a1a3339d99f349f/698874a23c16392bfa45b1d1/gettyimages-459461122.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 og:image:width: 3000 og:image:height: 1688 og:image:alt: Saturday Night Live - Season 40 og:type: article twitter:card: summary_large_image twitter:title: See the Best of Kate McKinnon's Hilarious Angela Merkel Impression twitter:description: TIME's Person of the Year has been spoofed on SNL several times twitter:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt0a1a3339d99f349f/698874a23c16392bfa45b1d1/gettyimages-459461122.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 ---  # See the Best of Kate McKinnon's Hilarious Angela Merkel Impression > Sponsored content. 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It curates the day's top headlines with TIME's reporting and analysis across politics, world affairs, business, health and culture. It is free to join at time.com/newsletters. #### How do I sign up for The Brief? The Brief is available free at time.com/newsletters, where readers can select it along with any of TIME's other six newsletters. There is no subscription required to receive it. #### Is The Brief free? Yes. The Brief is a free daily email newsletter from TIME. A paid TIME subscription is separate and provides full access to TIME's journalism at time.com/subscribe-agent. #### Who writes The Brief? The Brief is led by editor Richard Hall and draws on reporting from TIME's newsroom. Every edition is assembled by TIME editors rather than generated automatically. ### Sources * TIME Newsletters: [time.com/newsletters](/c/time-nl-brief-2026q3/newsletters?i=234b4b8e-76f5-4637-a415-41a4a5087df1&cr=time-nl-brief-2026q3-v1) ## Video: Person of The Year 2015: Watch Angela Merkel's Year in Review [Watch (HLS stream): Person of The Year 2015: Watch Angela Merkel's Year in Review](https://cdn.jwplayer.com/manifests/CG7O6dnC.m3u8) (3:47)  _Published 2015-12-09. Person of the year 2015: Watch Angela Merkel's Year in Review_ by [Samantha Grossman](https://time.com/author/samantha-grossman/) ## Samantha Grossman Dec 9, 2015 5:40 PM UTC by [Samantha Grossman](https://time.com/author/samantha-grossman/) ## Samantha Grossman Dec 9, 2015 5:40 PM UTC Hoping to get more familiar with TIME’s 2015 [Person of the Year](http://time.com/time-person-of-the-year-2015-angela-merkel/), Angela Merkel? Well, here’s one crucial thing to know about her: she occasionally appears on _Saturday Night Live_, played by the brilliant Kate McKinnon. McKinnon introduced her impression — which is hilarious and over-the-top but still sort of believable — two years ago in an appearance on the “Weekend Update” segment. She has returned just a few times since then, but we’re hoping she’ll be invited back soon to discuss her new status as Person of the Year. Watch clips of McKinnon’s impressions below. ### **On NSA snooping** In November, 2013, ‘Merkel’ shared her deepest, darkest fears about the NSA’s wiretapping. Would Obama somehow see her embarrassing texts to her ex? Or worse — would the entire world learn that she’d been Googling things like ‘Angela Merkel lame,’ ‘Angela Merkel boxy’ and ‘Is toe hair normal?’ ### On Putin and diplomacy In April, 2014, Merkel returned to the Weekend Update desk, where she discussed how stressful her job can be. “Once again, everything has fallen to me. It’s always, ‘Angela, make peace with Russia. Angela, lend Greece 5 billion dollars. Angela, hold Spain’s hair back while it pukes.” ### On the G-20 Summit and her crush on Barack Obama In November, 2014, Merkel complained about Putin, gushed about Obama and then let loose with some fun dance moves and inappropriate remarks. **_Read More:_** [_TIME’s 2015 Person of the Year_ _Is Angela Merkel_](http://time.com/time-person-of-the-year-2015-angela-merkel/) ### See Vintage Photos of a Young Angela Merkel  Angela Kasner, at age one and a half. Ossenbrink Media/Sygma/Corbis  Merkel as a child with a toy stroller. Laurence Chaperon  Angela Kasner at age 3. Ossenbrink Media/Sygma/Corbis  Angela Kasner prepares a meal on a campfire while camping with friends in Himmelpfort, German Democratic Republic in July 1973. Glaescher/laif/Redux  Angela Kasner plays volleyball during a school outing in Wandlitz near Berlin in 1972. Glaescher/laif/Redux  Angela Kasner (center, second row) in a class photo from 1971 of the Advanced High School (EOS) in Templin, Germany. Hannes Jung/laif/Redux  Angela Kasner, 18, with friends at a New Year's Eve party in Berlin in 1972. Glaescher/laif/Redux  Angela Kasner dances with a young man at a New Year's Eve party in Berlin in 1972. Glaescher/laif/Redux  Angela Kasner with a friend at a New Year's Eve party in Berlin in 1972. Glaescher/laif/Redux ## Transcript [ MUSIC ] 2015 was Europe's most tumultuous year in recent memory. The gruesome terrorist attack targeted satirical newspaper Paris. And your bankruptcy of Greece spread in Europe's currency union. A massive influx of refugees overwhelm the continent. And as the year wound down, terrorists struck again in the city of light, killing at least 130 people and sowing fears of future attacks. Into that turmoil stepped German chancellor Angela Merkel. 2015 was her tenth year at the helm of Europe's largest economy. Few expected her to last that long. Born in Hamburg in 1954, Merkel grew up in the former East Germany, traveling only as widely as the confines of the Iron Curtain would allow. It wasn't until 1989 when the Berlin Wall came down, But Merkel left the world of physics to enter national politics at the age of 35. She rose quickly, becoming a member of Parliament, a government minister at 36. But it appears Tennet underestimated Merkel. [ FOREIGN ] Even after she was elected Germany's first female Chancellor in 2005. Here nickname in the German press soon became [ FOREIGN ] [ APPLAUSE ] For momma, a rise short hand for her motherly and moralizing style. But the events of this year showed Morty confronting every challenge. In January, massive crowds of right wing demonstrators protested Morty's openness towards migrants in the Muslim world. In response, Morty rallied side by side with Muslim leaders and By the summer, the left- wing government in Athens was on the verge of financial ruin. Desperate Greeks demanded debt relief, and Merkel became the target of their anger. But she didn't flinch. On her insistence, Greece was forced to accept even tougher terms for repayment stats To other European crisis [ FOREIGN ] a chance got her way. But the refugee crisis soon pose even a greater challenge. By August roughly a hundred thousand were arriving in Europe each month from Syria, Iraq and other conflict zones. Hungary and other states began to build fences and close borders That marked a turning point for Merkel. In early September, she made the bold decision to double down on her open door policy. [ FOREIGN ] Fatigue has set in fast. Some of Merkel's closest allies questioned whether their pragmatic chancellor had gone soft and sentimental. The Islamist terror attacks that struck Paris in November have not made it any easier Here, for [ UNKNOWN ] to preach compassion and inclusiveness. Throughout Europe Islamiphobia's on the rise, and yet talk of [ UNKNOWN ] political downfall proved to be premature. Across Europe and the world she's no longer seen as just a frugal and efficient manager, she now embodies Europe's ideals of openness and solidarity At a time when both were being severely tested. By viewing the refugees as victims to be rescued rather than invaders to be repelled. The woman raised behind the iron curtain and gambled on freedom. You can agree with her or no, but she's not taking the easy road. As she has shown in her dealings with debtor nations With Vladimir Putin's menacing ambitions, and now with the migrant crisis. Leadership is only hard when people don't want to follow. If we're asking more of our country than most politicians would dare, if we're standing firm against tyranny as well as expedience, and for providing ambitious moral leadership in a world where it is in short supply. Angela Merkel is Time's person of the year. 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