Melissa McCarthy let Sean Spicer's angry body language guide her 'SNL' impression

If the political landscape of 2017 has a lasting legacy, let us pray that it be Melissa McCarthy's impression of Sean Spicer.

In a new interview with The Hollywood Reporter, McCarthy describes finding the right notes in her Spicer impression and how a few wacky ideas led to one of the most salient impressions in SNL history.

McCarthy explained that she was familiar with Spicer from press briefings, but usually got too angry herself to pay attention to his speech and mannerisms. She watched the briefings again, closely, to prepare for SNL.

"I just threw caution to the wind and was like, 'I'm not gonna try to mimic too much; there's so much irritation coming through his body,'" McCarthy told THR. "I'll just [capture that]."

"I remember asking about the podium: 'Can we pick this thing up?'" she recalls in the interview. "And that's the problem with doing SNL. It ruins you for everything else. Because when you say, 'Can we make a motorized podium?' they say yes. Anything you can conjure, there's somebody 10 feet from you that goes, 'Yeah. What do you want it to do?' And then your mind goes nuts."

The actress told THR that her Spicer impression, apart from going viral and almost stealing the show, has helped many people escape the frustrating political climate.

"People have stopped me, and they're like, 'Thank you, that was important to me,'" she said. "I'd say, 'It's just me doing shtick.' And they're like, 'No, I needed it.' I don't think they're talking about what I'm doing so much as what the show is doing, which is giving a sense of relief at a time when a lot of people feel disappointed and depressed about where we are."