Alec Baldwin has made his debut as Donald Trump on ‘Saturday Night Live’, in a sketch lampooning this week’s presidential debate.
Baldwin will play Trump for the duration of ‘SNL’s’ election coverage, with Ghostbusters star Kate McKinnon impersonating rival candidate Hillary Clinton.
Ladies and gentlemen, @AlecBaldwin! #SNLPremiere pic.twitter.com/48GbxwqNDa
— Saturday Night Live (@nbcsnl) October 2, 2016
The show began with a 9-minute cold open, recreating Monday night’s debate, with Michael Che as moderator Lester Holt.
The sketch touched on many of the debate’s most memorable moments including Trump addressing his feud with Rosie O’Donnell and his comments about former Miss Universe Alicia Machado, who he once allegedly called ‘Miss Piggy’.
The ’30 Rock’ star earned favourable reviews for his Trump debut, with many praising his striking resemblance to the Republican candidate and his knack for recreating Trump’s mannerisms.
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At one point Baldwin as Trump said of his opponent, “She’s the one with the bad temperament. She’s always screaming. She’s constantly lying. Her hair is crazy. Her face is completely orange, except around the eyes, where it’s white.”
Earlier in the week ‘SNL’ executive producer Lorne Michaels told The Hollywood Reporter how they chose Baldwin to play The Donald. “The idea came out of a conversation with Tina Fey at some point during the summer,” he said.
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“Then I mentioned it to Alec but he’d already committed himself to a movie and [he and wife Hilaria] were about to have their third child.
“There were a lot of obstacles in the way to working it out. But I just thought he’d be brilliant doing it and I thought he and Kate [McKinnon] would be a match.”
