



On Wednesday, United States Attorney General William Barr testified before the Senate Judiciary Committee regarding his handling of the special counsel’s investigation. A day later, he skipped his scheduled testimony before the House Judiciary Committee, resulting in a flurry of accusations and threats on Capitol Hill. With Saturday Night Live‘s return just a few days away, there’s a good chance the show’s cold opening will deal with the Barr drama in some form or fashion, but who would play him?

Some have suggested John Goodman, though the actor has already portrayed former State Secretary Rex Tillerson. An increasingly vocal cadre of Patton Oswalt fans, however, has been singing the comedian’s praises since Barr’s opening remarks on Wednesday were first televised. Fellow comics, actors and even his own wife, the actress Meredith Salenger, have been chiming in, too.

If SNL isn’t negotiating with @pattonoswalt to play Barr … #BarrHearing — Hal Sparks (@HalSparks) May 1, 2019

Mr. @pattonoswalt fused with a sprinkler would do an asskick job on @nbcsnl portraying Barr.

Let’s get this ball rolling… — Randy Bryce (@IronStache) May 2, 2019



Many, like veteran comedy actor Michael McKean, have also been wondering aloud about why Oswalt hasn’t hosted the program yet. “Joining the chorus demanding [Patton Oswalt] be SNL‘s Barr,” he tweeted, “but also wondering aloud why he doesn’t host once a damn year.”

Joining the chorus demanding @pattonoswalt be SNL’s Barr, but also wondering aloud why he doesn’t host once a damn year. — Michael McKean (@MJMcKean) May 2, 2019

To his credit, Oswalt has remained quite humble about all the online praise. He retweeted McKean’s post and responded to Salenger’s with a joke, but has otherwise kept largely quiet about it. Which either means he’s trying to keep a lid on the fact that this is actually going to happen… or nothing at all.

The only one I wanna play Barr for is you. Wait, that came out wrong… https://t.co/Y3nzGRW7Jr — Patton Oswalt (@pattonoswalt) May 1, 2019

Even so, it’s not the first time that the comedian has been compared to Barr. Back in January, when the latter was undergoing his Senate confirmation hearings, Max Burns shared side-by-side photos of the two men and declared, “So we all agree [Patton Oswalt] is going to play William Barr in the HBO movie about the Trump administration?”