Stop us if you’ve heard this before: Alec Baldwin says that he’s done portraying Donald Trump on “Saturday Night Live.”
“I can’t imagine I would do it again,” Baldwin told USA Today. “I’m so done with that.” Baldwin has played the 45th president on NBC’s late-night series since 2016 when Trump was running against Hillary Clinton. His initial run as Trump was well received, but over the past two “SNL” seasons, critics have argued his impression of Trump has gone stale (and Trump himself was not a huge fan).
Baldwin credits former “SNL” head writers, Chris Kelly and Sarah Schneider, the two are now running Comedy Central’s “The Other Two,” who wrote the initial Trump sketches as the reason for his success in that role. “That was new, it was fresh and the ratings were good. But I feel like I’m done with that now.”
One of Baldwin’s biggest reasons for why he’ll drop the role when “SNL” returns for its 46th season in the fall is that he and his wife have a 1-year-old son. He was able to make it work because outside of his guest spots on “SNL,” he “worked minimally,” but he says, this fall that will change.
“‘SNL’ just crushes my weekends, and now weekends are going to become much more precious to me because that’s time with my kids,” Baldwin said.
As for who could take the mantle from him? Baldwin points to Anthony Atamanuik, who has been doing a well-received impression of Trump of his own on Comedy Central’s “The President Show.”
“They should find somebody who wants to do it,” he said. “I really don’t have a lot invested in my Trump impersonation, so please find someone and convince Lorne [Michaels] to replace me. I’m completely down with that.”
Read the full interview in USA Today here.