Not Ready For Primetime

S.N.L.: Alec Baldwin Decides Whether to Return as Donald Trump

Will he make good on his threat to quit the presidential impersonation game?
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Courtesy of NBC

The episodes where Alec Baldwin showed up to play Donald Trump for Saturday Night Live provided a perfect pop cultural case study for a mutually beneficial arrangement. Because of Baldwin’s Trump, S.N.L. saw a massive ratings hike and because of his Saturday night appearances, Baldwin is a frontrunner to win an Emmy for the first time in almost a decade. Baldwin’s Trumpian return to S.N.L. this fall would seem like a no-brainer were it not for the ominous hints the actor has been dropping that he might want to leave his audience wanting more. But in a recent interview Baldwin finally confirmed his plans for next year and producer Lorne Michaels can breathe a sigh of relief.

When Baldwin talked in the past of putting his orange-wig-wearing days behind him, his main concern seemed to be outstaying his welcome. “The maliciousness of this White House has people very worried,” Baldwin said back in March. “Which is why I’m not going to do it much longer, by the way. The impersonation. I don’t know how much more people can take it.”

But in a new interview with CNN, Baldwin acknowledged that if his Trump impression is in danger of wearing out, we’re not quite there yet. “Yea, we’re going to fit that in,” he responded when CNN asked him if his Trump would be returning to Studio 8H in the fall. “I think people have enjoyed it.” Understatement of the year.

But Baldwin did imply he’d be on the show less this year. CNN writes: “His busy fall schedule will keep the number of Trump impersonations to a minimum, he said, which means S.N.L. fans will be treated to ‘a couple celery sticks’ rather than a ‘whole meal’ of blonde wigs and orange bronzer.”

To get a better sense of how eager Lorne Michaels is to make sure Baldwin’s S.N.L. appearances do fit into his busy schedule, we can re-visit the behind-the-scenes interview Baldwin gave The Hollywood Reporter last month. “When you finish shooting, we’ll fly you here on a private plane on Saturdays,” Michaels told Baldwin when originally pitching him on the whole Trump stunt. “I’m going to be doing the movie Friday nights. I’ll work till one, two in the morning, then I’m going to get on a plane?” Baldwin remembers responding.“That’s right. That’s what I said. You’ll work till two in the morning, then get on a plane and come here to be with us and do the show where you belong.” Thankfully, Baldwin didn’t have to keep up that insane schedule (the movie fell through), but it’s possible a number of last-minute private plane flights were involved in the making S.N.L. this year.

As for Baldwin’s threat of quitting the Trump impersonation game anytime soon, this is a road S.N.L. fans have been down before. The popular (and most frequent) host in the show’s history announced in a 2014 essay titled “Good-Bye, Public Life” that he was leaving S.N.L. for good. Luckily for all of us, Michaels was able to convince Baldwin to change his mind.