To date, Trump has been portrayed on SNL by six different performers: Phil Hartman, Darrell Hammond, Jason Sudeikis, Taran Killam, Alec Baldwin and James 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 the 2016 presidential election, and throughout the first Trump presidency. Johnson took over the role in November 2021, after Trump left the White House.
SNL has frequently paired parodies of Trump with impressions of his 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.
Phil Hartman (1988–1990)
Cast member Phil Hartman was the show's first portrayer of Donald Trump, from 1988 until 1990. Hartman portrayed Trump five times,[2] and was paired with Jan Hooks as Trump's then-wife Ivana 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 the O. Henry short story, "The Gift of the Magi".[4]
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 extensive prenuptial 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 in giant stone coins.[4]
The next episode had Marla Maples and Trump appearing on Church 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]
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 on The Apprentice. Trump hosted the show in April 2004, praising Hammond in his opening monologue and appeared in a sketch next to Hammond's Trump.
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 upcoming Republican Party presidential primaries and questions President 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 the 2016 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 portraying Ted Cruz. SNL had asked alumnus Jimmy Fallon (who had portrayed Trump on his 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]
It was announced prior to the show's forty-first season that Taran 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 Trump hosted SNL 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 the equal-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 his actual presidency would be even better. Trump is one of 17 presidential candidates who have appeared on Saturday 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 on The Tonight Show) so that Killam could portray Ted 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]
Alec Baldwin (2016–2020)
In September 2016, SNL announced that Alec Baldwin would replace Hammond in portraying Trump in its parodies of the 2016 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 a Critics' Choice Award and a Primetime Emmy Award for his portrayal of Trump.[27]
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 of Beyoncé's album Lemonade. Host Emily Blunt portrayed Ivanka Trump, and Vanessa Bayer appeared as Trump's youngest daughter Tiffany 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]
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, a Dominican 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 the Federal Communications Commission or the United States Justice Department could force SNL to stop portraying him. Trump denied that he has ever made such an inquiry, but claimed that his portrayal by SNL "should be considered an illegal campaign contribution from the Democrat Party." He also criticized Baldwin's portrayal of him, but praised Darrell Hammond's portrayal.[48]
Baldwin portrayed Trump only once after the 2020 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]
James Austin Johnson (2021–present)
SNL cast member James Austin Johnson began portraying Trump in November 2021, season 47. His portrayal received positive reviews. Megan Garber of The Atlantic called his portrayal of Trump "deeply skillful" and Tara Palmeri of Politico 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-alumnus Seth Meyers described the impression as stream of consciousness.[53]
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