Playing Trump on ‘SNL,’ Baldwin Takes On White House Turmoil

If “Saturday Night Live” suffered any loss of visibility during its monthlong Winter Olympics hiatus, the show got a most unusual promotional boost Friday. That’s when President Donald Trump, a frequent target of “SNL” and a once-vocal critic of the show, broke a monthslong silence and went on Twitter to vent his spleen at Alec Baldwin, his “SNL” impersonator.

To quickly summarize, Baldwin in an interview Thursday said that every time he plays the president now, “it’s like agony,” adding that “we have to get rid of him.” In response, Trump tweeted that Baldwin’s “dying mediocre career was saved by his terrible impersonation of me” and that it was “agony for those who were forced to watch.” Baldwin then followed with a series of tweets in which he mused, among other things, that he’d like to stick around in the role long enough “for the impeachment hearings, the resignation speech, the farewell helicopter ride” to Mar-a-Lago.

This weekend’s broadcast of “SNL,” hosted by Charles Barkley and featuring musical guest Migos, did not directly acknowledge the feud, though it did give Baldwin plenty of airtime to lampoon the president in its opening sketch.

In what purported to be another presidential listening session on gun control, Baldwin (as Trump) led off by addressing the audience: “Tonight I am here to bring you a message of healing and a show of unity,” he said as he looked at his notes. “I hear you and I care. Rent ‘Lego Ninjago Movie.’ Sorry, Eric scribbled some notes on there, too.”

After contemplating the idea of taking guns away from all Americans — “even whites"— Baldwin went on to address the latest personnel losses in the Trump administration. Paying homage to Hope Hicks, the outgoing White House communications director, Baldwin said: “She’s like a daughter to me. So smart, so hot. You know, I hate seeing her go but I love watching her walk away.”

In her absence, Baldwin said, “Jared Kushner’s basically the hottest chick left in the place.” And when he sought assurance from Lt. Gen. H.R. McMaster, the national security adviser, that he was still on board, the camera cut to an empty chair with McMaster’s name in front of it.

Turning to the subject of tariffs, Baldwin said: “Both sides hated it. I don’t care. I said I was going to run this country like a business. That business is a Waffle House at 2 a.m. Crazies everywhere, staff walking out in the middle of their shift, managers taking money out of the cash register to pay off the Russian mob.”

In other highlights from the episode:

Though he occasionally stumbled in his delivery, Barkley, the “Inside the NBA” analyst, scored with a pointed comedic commentary on the role of athletes in American civic life. He began:

“I’m an athlete, and athletes have been speaking out a lot this year. They’ve been kneeling during the anthem, refusing to go to the White House, and a lot of professional athletes are worried about speaking out might hurt their career. Well, here’s something that contradicts all of that: me. I’ve been saying whatever the hell I want for 30 years, and I’m doing great. I’m hosting “SNL” for the fourth time, for no reason. Lorne Michaels just wanted somebody to talk to about “Black Panther.” But this country’s had a great tradition of athletes speaking their minds. Muhammad Ali changed the way people thought about Vietnam. Jim Brown had people thinking about race. Michael Jordan even thought it was OK for humans to play with Looney Tunes.”

Alluding to the Fox News host Laura Ingraham’s recent criticism of LeBron James, Barkley added:

“Well, some folks think we’re all spoiled millionaires. But athletes work hard. … But some people don’t want to hear from professional athletes. Like this lady on Fox News who told LeBron James to shut up and dribble. And dribbling’s like LeBron’s only fourth thing he’s good at. Shooting, passing, and magically making his hairline come back. But the media does this stuff all the time. I went to President Obama’s 50th birthday party. They got video of me, Jay-Z, Steve Harvey and Grant Hill at the party, and Fox News called it a ‘hip-hop barbecue.’ First of all, we were the only four black people there. And three of us ain’t even in hip-hop. So calling it a hip-hop barbecue is like calling any tournament Tiger (Woods) plays in ‘Def Golf Jam.'”

At the conclusion of his monologue, Barkley traded riffs with the “Weekend Update” co-anchor Michael Che. “I’m proud to stand for the anthem,” Barkley said. “Unless Fergie is singing it, and I just fall over laughing.”

On the night before the Oscars, “SNL” imagined a far more scathing (if timely) event called the Grabbies, presented by the Academy of Sexual Harassment and Misconduct in Hollywood and dedicated, as an announcer described, to “celebrating this year’s worst behavior in entertainment.” Its categories include Handsiest Actor, Best Animated Grope, Worst Thing Done to a Plant and the coveted Cecil B. Molestin’ Lifetime Achievement Award, as well as Most Open Robe. Previewing his possible awards speech, an actor played by Pete Davidson said: “Well, first, I’d like to thank guns for pivoting the national conversation away from harassment. I’d also like to thank my uncle for always saying, ‘Boys will be boys.’ Even when it was, like, O.J.”

Playing the soon-to-be departed Hope Hicks, Cecily Strong recalled her time at the Trump White House as if it were summer camp. “You make all these new friends,” she explained. “You barely get any sleep and then everybody leaves after eight weeks.” She bid farewell to friends like Kellyanne Conway (“You taught me that a strong woman can run a campaign and win. And you showed me what I could turn into if I stick around too long”), and in a final message to her colleagues, she said: “I’ll see you guys at the reunion in 10 years. Seven with good behavior.”

“SNL” cast member Leslie Jones, who provided running commentary on the Winter Olympics both in person and over Twitter, spoke to “Weekend Update” co-anchor Colin Jost about her time in Pyeongchang. “I am a 6-foot black woman,” Jones told him. “You think I stand out in America? Everybody in Korea was 4-foot-1. They either thought I was an athlete or a guy. Some of them thought I was a Transformer, but Transformers don’t eat Korean barbecue like that.”

At the end of her segment, Jones brought out Hilary Knight, a member of the U.S. gold-medal winning women’s hockey team, and gave Jost a warning. “Don’t be talking about how you’re going to teach me something,” Jones said. “I got friends who are gold-medal Olympians.”