Alec Baldwin returns to ‘SNL’ in the cold open… but not as Donald Trump
Alec Baldwin showed up again on the latest episode of “Saturday Night Live,” but not in his previous capacity impersonating former US President Donald Trump.
This time, Baldwin played FOX News anchor Bret Baier in the cold open, who quizzed Maya Rudolph as Vice President Kamala Harris in a spoof of their interview that aired on the network last week.
While Baldwin has famously been known to appear on “SNL” as Trump in seasons past, “SNL” cast member James Austin Johnson has more recently been portraying the former president, despite speculation that Baldwin would return this season ahead of the election.
Throughout “SNL’s” FOX News interview spoof, Baldwin as Baier and Rudolph as Harris discussed policy topics including immigration and abortion.
When it came to immigration, Rudolph as Harris spoke of all of the cartels she said she took down, joking, “If I was in ‘Breaking Bad,’ it would’ve ended in three episodes.”
Baldwin as Baier incessantly interrupted Rudolph as Harris throughout the interview. At another point, he made fun of her for only answering questions because she’s “just looking for a viral moment” – with Rudolph then turning to a different camera to create faux TikTok clips.
They also made light of one of the more viral moments to come out of the real-life interview, with Rudolph as Harris and Baldwin as Baier sparring about how he played the wrong clip of Trump.
Dana Carvey playing President Joe Biden also appeared during the sketch, but noticeably missing from the cold open was Andy Samberg, who has appeared on the long-running sketch show this season playing Second Gentleman Doug Emhoff.
This weekend’s episode was hosted by Michael Keaton, star of “Beetlejuice Beetlejuice” and the new “Goodrich.” He previously hosted in three times, most recently in 2015, and cameoed on the show in 2019. Billie Eilish was the musical guest.
John Mulaney will host the next episode of “Saturday Night Live” on November 2 with Chappell Roan as the musical guest, just ahead of Election Day.
“SNL” airs on NBC at 11:30 p.m. EDT/8:30 p.m. PDT.