“Maybe I was in a coma... I’m waking up from a coma and now, I’m ready to do some comedy.”
ALEC BALDWIN, ‘Saturday Night Live’ actor
LOS ANGELES: Alec Baldwin said that his impersonation of United States President Donald Trump on NBC’s sketch show Saturday Night Live has revived his “dead” comedy career after he wrapped up sitcom 30 Rock in 2012.
“I didn’t realise in the comedy terms that I was dead,” said Baldwin on Monday when asked if he felt he was entering a new era with his comedy.
“Maybe I was in a coma... I’m waking up from a coma and now, I’m ready to do some comedy.”
The actor was promoting his latest film, DreamWorks’ animated comedy The Boss Baby, out in theatres on March 31.
It has been nearly five years since Baldwin, 58, concluded his six-year tenure as the charming corporate boss Jack Donaghy in NBC’s comedy series 30 Rock.
Since then, he has appeared in a handful of movies in supporting roles, but the actor saw a new surge in popularity when he took over as Trump on Saturday Night Live last October, ahead of November’s United States presidential elections.
Baldwin quipped that his comedy career “did die” but that “I’m being reincarnated. As Trump! Oh God!”
Viewer ratings have soared for Saturday Night Live since Baldwin started portraying Trump in a series of skits mocking the billionaire reality TV star-turnedpolitician as a dim-witted commander-in-chief with a short attention span, an oversized-ego and a Twitter addiction.
Asked whether he felt playing the president took a toll on him, Baldwin said the challenge was that it would “delight some people and offend other people”.
“I think for me playing Trump has been a fun experience because it’s like going home when I do SNL.”