Baldwin confirms he will return to ‘SNL’ as Trump
‘You’ll probably win’
LOS ANGELES, June 27, (Agencies): Alec Baldwin isn’t putting away the blonde wig and orange bronzer just yet.
The actor confirmed he will return to “Saturday Night Live” with his revered Donald Trump impression in the fall.
“Yeah, we’re going to fit that in. I think people have enjoyed it,” he told CNN. His busy schedule will keep his parody impersonations to a minimum though, with fans getting “a couple celery sticks” rather than a “whole meal.” In March, Baldwin mentioned he might not be back to Studio 8H for “SNL” at all because he didn’t know how much more the audience could take of it.
Trump himself isn’t necessarily a fan of Baldwin’s work, taking to Twitter to call his impersonation “unwatchable.”
Still, “SNL” can likely give a nod to Baldwin’s Trump along with Melissa McCarthy’s press secretary Sean Spicer for its most watched season in 23 years. In addition a guest role in a number of episodes, Baldwin hosted “SNL” for a record 17th time during its 42nd season.
Baldwin emphasized his decision to stick with the role is not out of necessity.
“You get a little bit older and you think, ‘Do I want to work right now?’ For me the question is not what do I want to do do I want to do anything? Do I want to work? I don’t need to work,” he said. “Do I want to work or do I want to just take it easy and smell the roses or do something else? When I decide I want to go to work I look at what’s out there and pick something that’s the best that’s available to me.”
Career
These days Baldwin may be best known for his President Trump impression on “Saturday Night Live,” but the award-winning veteran actor has had a storied career spanning more than three decades.
On Sunday night, SpikeTV took time to both honor and roast the veteran actor in a two-hour special titled “One Night Only: Alec Baldwin.” Taped in front of a live audience at the Apollo Theater in Harlem, the third installment of the Spike’s “One Night Only” (previously honoring Eddie Murphy and Don Rickles) brought together some of the people who know Baldwin best: his family, fellow “30 Rock” actors Tracy Morgan, Jack McBrayer, Julianne Moore and Jane Krakowski, as well as Robert De Niro, Horatio Sanz, and surprise guest president Bill Clinton.
Clinton talked about his long-standing friendship with Baldwin, how the actor ran for office in elementary school, and used that anecdote as an opportunity to make a dig at Trump. “Now that we know it works the other way around, you should run again. You’ll probably win this time,” Clinton said.
Tiny Fey and Lorne Michaels were notably absent. Baldwin joked at one point, “You may have noticed Lorne Michaels couldn’t be here. Unfortunately, he was trapped under a pile of money he made off of all of our backs.” Stephen Baldwin, who has differing political views than his brother, did not attend.
Kevin Kay, Spike TV president, started things off with a little introduction and while encouraging the audience to cheer and applaud as much as they’d like, told everyone, “Behave yourselves. One thing I can guarantee is the president will be watching.”
De Niro told Baldwin that he thinks his Trump impression is “great comedy and good for the country.” Sanz added that “the world thanks you for the great Trump impression. The audience showed approval for both lines with applause. Otherwise, the evening was filled with heartfelt moments and hilarious jabs.
Morgan joked, “Alec and I are really like brothers. We have so much in common. I used to drink, he used to drink. I used to smoke weed, he used to do drugs. I had a horrible car accident that almost ended my career, he had his MSNBC talk show.” While Morgan struggled to land a few of his jokes, he ultimately went with sincerity.
“To me, in my book, you’re one of the the greatest five actors of all time, and I mean that. And I know your prayers went up for me and the blessings came down. I’m glad I’m here talking to you now. I love you,” he professed.
Most of the actor tributes were peppered with video highlights from Baldwin’s career separated into an “SNL” montage (Baldwin has hosted a record 17 times), his dramatic film roles, impressions and a mash-up of all the leading ladies with whom he’s starred.
His real-life leading lady, Hilaria Baldwin, went for their age difference in her jokes (he is 59; she is 33). “He is a wonderful grandfather to our children,” she said, and later, “The thing about Alec is he’s young at heart. He spends too much time on his hair and fights on Twitter.” Baldwin simultaneously laughed and cringed from his seat.
Brothers Daniel and Billy Baldwin gave a snapshot of what it was like “growing up Baldwin,” and how rambunctious the household could be. Billy Baldwin seemed to have received the brunt of it. In one story in particular, a young Daniel and Alec Baldwin rolled him up in a rug, stuffed a sock in his mouth and left him in the bathtub with the water trickling down his face for hours, to which Daniel said, “Alec actually invented waterboarding.”
“I wouldn’t trade one minute of growing up with Alec and the bond we have,” said Daniel Baldwin. Billy Baldwin echoed how proud he is of his brother and that their father, who passed away in 1983, “is looking down and very proud.”
NEW YORK:
Impression
Also:
CNN wasn’t saying Monday what led it to retract a story about a supposed investigation into a pre-inaugural meeting between an associate of President Donald Trump and the head of a Russian investment fund.
The story posted Thursday on CNN’s website said Senate investigators are looking into the meeting between Anthony Scaramucci, a member of Trump’s transition team, and Kirill Dmitriev, whose Russian Direct Investment Fund guides investments by US entities in Russia. Scaramucci, in the story, said he exchanged pleasantries in a restaurant with Dmitriev on Jan 16.
The report also said that two Democratic senators wanted to know whether Scaramucci had indicated in the meeting whether sanctions against Russia would be lifted, a decision that could impact the investment fund.