Some of Saturday Night Live's most important impressions have been U.S. Presidents and their inner circles, and Dana Carvey memorably aped both then-sitting President George Bush and outspoken candidate Ross Perot. Alec Baldwin has provided arguably the most infamous of them all with his Donald Trump, though, considering how much blowback those performances have received from the POTUS himself. Baldwin has a way for Trump to avoid dealing with SNL's microscope-focus.
If he was smart, he'd show up this week. It would probably be over. He could end it. If he showed up.
Let's all put together a list of things that we realistically expect to see showing up on Saturday Night Live this weekend, or on any of the remaining Season 42 episodes. (Or at any other point this season previous to now, even, considering The Atlantic's interview with Alec Baldwin from the upcoming issue took place on February 7?) Whose list has "the actual Donald Trump" as an entry? Nobody logical, right? Yeah, that makes sense, considering Trump's return to SNL at this point would likely create misery for almost everyone involved. That misery likely wouldn't extend to audiences (that would turn out in droves), though, unless it was simply just as boring as Trump's last trip to the show.
A rando appearance in a cold open would be much different from actually hosting the whole shebang, so Donald Trump showing up to do a slapstick mirror bit with Baldwin's Trump could be just what's needed to put this minimal feud behind everyone. [holds for laughter] I don't know how appearing on the show again would possibly get Saturday Night Live to leave the President alone, since that hypothetical appearance would fuel a ton of NBC-embraced publicity. Plus, Baldwin doesn't exactly speak for Lorne Michaels or producers, so his guarantee isn't gospel, but we'll never know unless it happens.
With everything happening right now with [fill in the blank with one of many issues the White House administration is currently facing], Donald Trump obviously has bigger fish to fry than TV sketch comedies. And there are only three episodes left in Saturday Night Live's current season, so the chances of him taking on this challenge are slimmer-than-none to none. Although the fact that it's now that it's been publicized does help things, since Trump loves a good challenge.
Still, holding out for one more month in order to get an offseason of peace shouldn't be that difficult for the President. Sean Spicer and others have shown with their genial and light-hearted responses to Saturday Night Live's jokes that it's not impossible to avoid raising hell. One wonders if anyone has alerted the White House administration of that Weekend Update spinoff coming in August...
Saturday Night Live wraps up Season 42 with some great hosts that you can check out on our rundown, and you can find the show airing on Saturday nights on NBC. Head to our midseason premiere schedule and our summer TV guide to see everything coming to the small screen in the near future.
