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The sketch comedy television seriesSaturday Night Live (SNL) has parodiedDonald Trump since 1988, covering his time as a real estate broker to his popular run as host ofThe Apprentice, and during and between his presidencies.
To date, Trump has been portrayed onSNL by performers includingShane Gillis,Phil Hartman,Darrell Hammond,Jason Sudeikis,Taran Killam,Alec Baldwin andJames Austin Johnson. Hammond portrayed him the longest while in the cast in the late 1990s, and then reprising the role in a series of cameos in 2016. The other cast-members held the role briefly, with five appearances by Hartman, three by Killam, and only one by Sudeikis.[1] The role was played by Baldwin in 46 recurring guest appearances along with one hosting appearance between October 2016 and November 2020, just ahead of the2016 presidential election, and throughout thefirst Trump presidency. Johnson took over the role in November 2021, after Trump left the White House, while Shane Gillis portrayed Trump in the skit "Trump Sneakers," with a supporting appearance by Johnson.
SNL has frequently paired parodies of Trump with impressions ofhis wives and children or, since he took office, various staff-members. Trump himself has hosted the show twice, in 2004 and 2015, the latter time as a presidential candidate.
Cast memberPhil Hartman was the show's first portrayer of Donald Trump, from 1988 until 1990. Hartman portrayed Trump five times,[2] and was paired withJan Hooks as Trump's then-wifeIvana Trump or, in one case,Marla Maples, Trump's second-wife-to-be.[3][4]
The first sketch, from December 1988, shows Donald and Ivana celebrating Christmas, giving large, gold and jewel-encrusted presents to each other, in a parody of theO. Henry short story, "The Gift of the Magi".[4]
The real Trump is seen in the audience at theSaturday Night Live 15th Anniversary Special from 1989, whereChevy Chase spills popcorn on him.[5]
A sketch from February 1990 parodies the Ivana Trump divorce. Ivana demands more money since Donald has been unfaithful, but he refutes this by referring to their extensiveprenuptial agreement. It states, among other things, that he is entitled to have mistresses provided they are younger than she is, and that she will be paid ingiant stone coins.[4]
The next episode had Marla Maples and Trump appearing onChurch Chat. The couple are referred to as a "Satanic sandwich", and the sketch shows press coverage of their relationship, including a "Best Sex I've Ever Had" headline.[4]
Hartman did not appear in Trump-sketches after 1990, andDarrell Hammond's first two portrayals came in 1999.[4] The first sketch hadRoss Perot (Cheri Oteri) searching for "a new crazy leader" for theReform Party, with Trump andPat Buchanan (Chris Parnell) as possible candidates. Their meeting is crashed by a violentJesse Ventura (Will Ferrell).[6] In the second sketch, Trump announcesthat he is running for president and tells the audience, "Eh, don't try to fight it. Alright?" He also introduces his running mate,Who Wants to Be a Millionaire? winnerJohn Carpenter.[7]
Hammond resumed playing Trump in 2004, doing so a total of 16 times up to 2011, although he left the cast in 2009.[8] His parodies focused on Trump's interest and involvement with politics, commercials, and his appearances onThe Apprentice. Trumphosted the show in April 2004, praising Hammond in his opening monologue and appeared in a sketch next to Hammond's Trump.
An early 2005 episode introduced Trump's third wife,Melania (Paris Hilton). Trump brings her home to let his children,Eric Trump (Fred Armisen),Donald Trump Jr. (Seth Meyers), andIvanka Trump (Maya Rudolph), "meet their new mommy". Melania would be portrayed later byMolly Shannon and, from 2015 and onward (without Hammond), byCecily Strong.[9][4]
Hammond is the show's longest-running Trump impersonator. He played the role for ten years in the cast, 1999 to 2009, and reprised it twice in 2011. In the 2011 sketches, Trump involves himself in the upcomingRepublican Party presidential primaries and questionsPresident Obama's birth certificate.
After returning to serve as the show's announcer in 2014, he began reprising his role as Trump regularly, beginning in December 2015. Due to the wide field of GOP candidates in the2016 U.S. presidential election, the show needed at least one cameo appearance to cover all of the candidates. Taran Killam, who at this point had begun playing Trump, switched to portrayingTed Cruz.SNL had asked alumnusJimmy Fallon (who had portrayed Trump onhis own show) to play the part.[10] When a last minute change prevented this, Hammond returned to the role. Cecily Strong, who had portrayed Melania opposite Killam's Trump, continued in this role alongside Hammond.[9]
Hammond subsequently appeared as Trump in seven more episodes of the season. His appearance in the role was critically acclaimed,[11] but some outlets reported that the role should be moved to a permanent cast member at some point.[12]
Jason Sudeikis appeared in the role once, during aFox & Friends parody. Sudeikis' Trump comments on Barack Obama's handling ofHurricane Sandy.[6][13]
It was announced prior to the show's forty-first season thatTaran Killam would be taking over the role for the 2016 U.S. presidential election. Reportedly, several cast members had auditioned for the role.[14]
Killam's Trump debuted on the October 2015 sketch "A Message From Donald & Melania Trump", which also introduced Cecily Strong as Melania Trump. The message is sent from "our humble gold house", and Donald presents himself as "the man who's almost certainly your next president". The couple praise Donald's qualities as a person and a politician, although he becomes uncomfortable when she claims that he"was Democrat before he was Republican".[15] The duo reprised the setup and characters in December, wishing viewers a Merry Christmas and presenting a "Naughty and Nice" list. Donald placed Santa on the "naughty" list since he does not trust anybody who can fly over a wall.[16]
Donald TrumphostedSNL a second time in November 2015, and Killam and Hammond appeared during the opening monologue alongside him.[17] Since Trump was running for president, his appearance triggered theequal-time rule, so his opponents received free air time on NBC affiliate stations.[18] Trump appeared in a sketch portraying him as an incredibly successful president in 2018. Cecily Strong parodied Melania, and Trump's daughter Ivanka appeared in a cameo.[19] Trump ends the sketch by telling the audience that hisactual presidency would be even better. Trump is one of 17 presidential candidates who have appeared onSaturday Night Live, and the only American president to have hosted the show.[20] Killam later expressed regret and shame for what he referred to as "normalizing" Trump's candidacy.[21]
For the December 19, 2015 episode,SNL lacked enough cast members to portray all of the GOP candidates in a debate sketch. As a result,Jimmy Fallon was asked to return in the role of Trump (which he had played many times onThe Tonight Show) so that Killam could portrayTed Cruz instead. Ultimately, that plan fell through at the last minute, and instead, Hammond played Trump in the debate.
Hammond continued to play Trump for the remainder of the season. Killam's contract was terminated early after that season, with some news sources alleging that being replaced as Trump was part of the reason.[22]
In September 2016,SNL announced thatAlec Baldwin would replace Hammond in portraying Trump in its parodies of the2016 presidential debates. Hammond had not expected this, and was very shaken by the replacement.[23] Baldwin continued portraying Trump through 2020.[24][25] Unlike his predecessors, he has never been a cast-member, but as of February 2017 he has hosted the show 17 times, more than anyone else.[26] Baldwin received aCritics' Choice Award and aPrimetime Emmy Award for his portrayal of Trump.[27]
Baldwin's Trump debuted in the October 1, 2016 episode, oppositeKate McKinnon asHillary Clinton andMichael Che as debate moderatorLester Holt.[28] The sketch was based on thefirst presidential debate between Clinton and Trump. The episode also included impressions of members of Trump's family in a parody of the game showFamily Feud.[29]
Further sketches with Baldwin included elements of the other presidential debates,the vice presidential debate, and theAccess Hollywood tape.[30]
The October 15 episode featured a parody of the third presidential debate.[31] Later in the episode, Baldwin and Cecily Strong appeared as Donald and Melania Trump, in a parody ofBeyoncé's albumLemonade. HostEmily Blunt portrayedIvanka Trump, andVanessa Bayer appeared as Trump's youngest daughterTiffany Trump.
Trump reacted negatively to this episode on Twitter, saying that Baldwin's portrayal "stinks" and that it was "time to retire the boring and unfunny show."[32][33]
Post-election sketches have included Baldwin's Trump meeting with people such as theChairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff,Mitt Romney (Jason Sudeikis), andVladimir Putin (Beck Bennett), with humor drawn from the2016 United States election interference by Russia. In February 2017, it was reported that the show has had strong viewer ratings since the election.[34]
Several people who work closely with Trump have been frequently parodied. These includeCounselor to the PresidentKellyanne Conway (Kate McKinnon),[35]White House Chief StrategistSteve Bannon (Mikey Day) with aGrim Reaper-like appearance,[36]White House Press SecretariesSean Spicer (Melissa McCarthy),[37][38] andSarah Huckabee Sanders (Aidy Bryant),[39] andUnited States Attorney GeneralJeff Sessions (Kate McKinnon).[40][41]Vice PresidentMike Pence was portrayed by Beck Bennett,[42] and Trump's sonsEric andDonald Jr. byAlex Moffat andMikey Day respectively.[43] Elder daughter Ivanka Trump was also featured, as portrayed byScarlett Johansson,[44] though she has also been portrayed byMargot Robbie. Other parodies of people associated with the Trump Administration post-election includedJared Kushner (Jimmy Fallon), an unmasked Steve Bannon (Bill Murray),Michael Cohen (Ben Stiller),Brett Kavanaugh (Matt Damon),Robert Mueller (Robert de Niro),Rudy Giuliani (Kate McKinnon),Paul Manafort (Alex Moffat), andMitch McConnell (Beck Bennett).
Trump tweeted his displeasure with the show in November, December, and January, saying "Totally biased, not funny and the Baldwin impersonation just can't get any worse." and "NBCNews is bad but Saturday Night Live is the worst of NBC. Not funny, cast is terrible, always a complete hit job. Really bad television!".[27][45]
El Nacional, aDominican newspaper, mistakenly published Baldwin's picture instead of Trump's in February 2017. The paper quickly apologized.[46][47]
In June 2021, after Trump had left office, it was reported that while Trump was in office he had inquired if theFederal Communications Commission or theUnited States Justice Department could forceSNL to stop portraying him. Trump denied that he has ever made such an inquiry, but claimed that his portrayal bySNL "should be considered an illegal campaign contribution from theDemocrat Party." He also criticized Baldwin's portrayal of him, but praised Darrell Hammond's portrayal.[48]
Baldwin portrayed Trump only once after the2020 United States presidential election, declaring in a November 2020 appearance that he (in character as Trump) had won the election.[49] Immediately after that last portrayal, Baldwin tweeted "I don’t believe I’ve ever been this overjoyed to lose a job before!"[50]
SNL cast memberJames Austin Johnson began portraying Trump in November 2021,season 47. His portrayal received positive reviews. Megan Garber ofThe Atlantic called his portrayal of Trump "deeply skillful" andTara Palmeri ofPolitico said it was "an uncanny likeness – better than any Trump impression we’ve seen – that captures not only his mannerisms and vocal tics, but his jigsaw-like thought pattern as he speaks".[51][52]
Johnson has noted that Trump has been in the public spotlight a long time, and that Trump's voice has changed noticeably over the years, which affects Johnson's contemporary impression of him.SNL alumnusSeth Meyers described the impression asstream of consciousness.[53]
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