Saturday Night Live season 43 premiere: Alec Baldwin returning
Baldwin made an appearance today on Ellen in order to promote his new book, which is really just a book “written” by his Trump character. While there, he also confirmed to Ellen DeGeneres that he is going to be coming back for another few episodes (at least) as the President, starting with the first episode. Baldwin seemed to be ready to make a joke about being Trump on the show until the real President leaves office, but he stopped himself before going completely down that road.
Obviously for SNL, keeping Baldwin as a part of the show is a huge boost. He brought so much energy and craziness to the proceedings when he was there the first time, and it absolutely also got the series even more viewers. Remember that we’re coming off of one of the most-popular and most-watched iterations of the show in years, and Baldwin can at least take some element of credit for that. While anyone could have done a Donald Trump impression, he brought the series headlines in a way that neither Darrell Hammond nor Taran Killam did the year before. One of the large reasons for his success, at least we feel, is because of his ability to make ridiculous faces and say things that are so biting and edgy. We’re not going to sit here and say that Baldwin has the best impression of Trump that we’ve ever heard, but that’s also not the point. This isn’t about who has the best voice; it’s about who creates the best overall character. This is going to be what matters the most at the end of the day, given that so much of what we enjoy about Baldwin as Trump is the combination of the writing and the performance more so than the way the words come out of his mouth.
As for whether or not Baldwin will ever host the show again, he doesn’t comment on that in the video — but we feel like it’s pretty likely to happen. He’s hosted the show more than anyone, he’s good at it, and he does seem to have a great relationship with show boss Lorne Michaels. We at CarterMatt do really feel as though he could continue to do this job as Trump with the occasional hosting gig for however long he wanted to, and nobody would really care or tell him to stop.
The premiere episode is going to be hosted by Ryan Gosling with musical guest JAY-Z, and with that Baldwin probably won’t be relied upon on his own to generate headlines. The show has some other tools at their disposal! The one question that we have is hoe they are going to ever top what they did with Melissa McCarthy as Sean Spicer, a performance that may even rival Baldwin’s Trump in terms of greatness.
Are you excited to see Baldwin on the Saturday Night Live season 43 premiere?
Be sure to share in the comments below right now! Meanwhile, be sure to visit the link here in the event you’re interested in some additional news regarding a new project from show alums Fred Armisen and Maya Rudolph. (Photo: NBC.)