There is perhaps no impression in the history of Saturday Night Live that has generated more headlines and hot takes than Donald Trump. The longtime pop culture figure and current US President has been portrayed by a half dozen or so cast members, hosts and friends of the show, most prominently by Darrell Hammond, Alec Baldwin and currently, James Austin Johnson. The switch from Hammond to Baldwin in the lead-up to the 2016 Presidential election was especially divisive and almost a decade later, Hammond explained why it happened and how he felt about it.
Speaking to Entertainment Weekly, Hammond admitted he “didn’t like it” but said longtime showrunner Lorne Michaels did what he thought was right. He said the show wanted an impression that was more likely to generate a big response and go viral, and that wasn't his softer take on Trump everyone had already been watching for multiple decades. He said the tough decision “paid off” given how much press it attracted but said coming to terms with it was “tough.” Here’s a portion of his quote…
I know Lorne Michaels is a tough guy, but he's not cruel. I don't think he would've done that unless he felt like he had to. At the time, social media was emerging, YouTube was happening, there was a need to go viral every week. He made that creative decision, and it paid off… I didn't like it, but it's the NFL, man. Saturday Night Live, for all its frivolity and hilarity, it's not the March of Dimes, it's a business.
Hammond’s impression, which Trump was always supportive of, played him as a goofy, buffoonish and larger than life character. He was shown as being out of touch but also funny and almost endearing. It wasn’t particularly nice, but it also wasn’t mean.
The take was broadly popular in the 90s and 2000s when Trump was a tabloid fixture and builder to the stars, but during his first Presidential run, some felt the impression was too soft and needed to be more villainous. Frequent host Alec Baldwin was brought in to offer a new take.
His version was much more aggressively mean. He portrayed Trump as more nakedly evil and played into the future President’s unusual mannerisms and speech patterns. The weekly sketches became major pop culture touchpoints and made the show significantly more divisive politically than it had ever been. It also left it with a lingering reputation that it was biased, which has been hard to shake.
Baldwin stepped away from his impression after the 2020 election, and it was eventually turned over to cast member James Austin Johnson, whose take is a blend of Hammond’s and Baldwin’s. It’s the most accurate, at least from an appearance and speech pattern standpoint, of the three, and it both comments on Trump’s politics, often in a critical way, but also makes him seem funny and human and keeps the essence of why he’s been a source of fascination for so long. Expect SNL to ride with it until he eventually leaves the show.
Fortunately, despite how difficult it was to be pushed aside on the Trump impression, Hammond clearly has maintained a positive relationship with Michaels and a positive relationship with the show. He still serves as the official announcer and is open to making further appearances in an on-screen capacity. Fingers crossed that happens at some point, even if it’s not as the President.
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