The many faces of Trump (on ‘Saturday Night Live')
NBC and “Saturday Night Live” announced last week that they would be turning to a new talent, albeit a familiar face, to play Republican presidential nominee Donald Trump on the upcoming 42nd season of the show, which premiered Saturday.
That face? Alec Baldwin. Baldwin, who has hosted the late-night sketch comedy staple a record 16 times since 1990, has agreed to play Trump for the entirety of the season.
But one of the few individuals whose involvement in “SNL” is longer than Baldwin's is that of Donald Trump.
Trump, or at least, Trump the “Saturday Night Live” caricature, has existed since 1988, when the real estate magnate was just a very rich man with a very blonde wife named Ivana.
Through the years, the “SNL” version of Trump has changed, and so have the men who have played him. Here's a look.
The first member of the “SNL” crew to take on Trump, Hartman embodied the businessman in a December 1988 sketch that had Trump and then wife, Ivana (Jan Hooks), re-enacting an extreme version of O. Henry's “The Gift of the Magi.”
Hartman would portray Trump several more times as the entrepreneur made headlines with his reported affair with eventual second wife, Marla Maples (also played by Hooks).
Generally considered the gold standard for “SNL” Trumps, Hammond first appeared as “The Donald” in an October 1999 episode.
The best of Hammond's work came during the reign of “The Apprentice,” when Trump's mannerisms were just familiar enough to be aped but not so much that they seem overtly cartoonish.
Sudeikis only graced “SNL” with his Trump impression a single time, during a November 2012 episode hosted by Louis C.K. The sketch is a segment on “Fox & Friends” addressing the aftermath of Hurricane Sandy and features Sudeikis' Trump assuring the audience that the hurricane would not affect filming of the latest season of “Celebrity Apprentice” and moving on to address Trump's quest for President Obama's birth certificate.
Despite Hammond's repeated return appearances to portray Trump after his 2009 departure from “SNL” and return to the series to serve as the announcer after Don Pardo's death in 2014, it was announced before the debut of Season 41 that Taran Killam would be taking over the impression.
But for whatever reason, Killam's Trump was not long for this world. After portraying the candidate during the cold open for the Oct. 13, 2015, episode, Killam would only appear as Trump on two other occasions. Once a few weeks later when Trump himself would host and again for an opening segment in December.
After that point, Hammond again stepped in as Trump.
Killam's “SNL” contract was not renewed for this season.
Trump has hosted “Saturday Night Live” on two occasions. The first during the height of the success of “The Apprentice” in 2004 and again in 2015 during the heart of his battle to win the GOP nomination for president.
NBC got criticism for featuring the politician during his latest stint hosting, but if it hadn't welcomed Trump back to the show, we never would have gotten to see whose Trump impression is more realistic: Killam's, Hammond's or Trump's.
PREVIOUS ARTICLE
