THE HISTORY OF DONALD TRUMP AND SATURDAY NIGHT LIVE, THE SHOW HE LOVES TO HATE.
A BRIEF HISTORY OF SNL AND DONALD TRUMP
For the 42 seasons Saturday Night Live has been on the air, critiquing the show has not only been the preoccupation of comedy nerds but also every American’s national duty. No viewer, however, has seen his criticism of the show scrutinized quite like President Donald Trump.
He is the first president of the United States to take umbrage publicly at his portrayal and fight back in real time (a phenomenon that began last fall, when Alec Baldwin started impersonating him). That fraught dynamic is even more remarkable given Trump has been lampooned on the program regularly for almost 30 years — he is as much an SNL character as Stefon, the Church Lady or Debbie Downer — and for a time, he seemed to enjoy a friendly relationship with the show.
So where did it all go awry? Following Baldwin’s hosting this past weekend, here’s a look back at the relationship between the chief executive and the comedy series he loves to hate.
THE DEBUT
Dec. 10, 1988: In their debut as characters on Saturday Night Live, Donald Trump and his first wife, Ivana (played by Phil Hartman and Jan Hooks) are the filthy-rich romantic leads of this parody of O. Henry’s The Gift of the Magi. Donald sells his yacht, the Trump Princess, to buy Ivana a gold, jewel- encrusted door for Mar- a- Lago, but Ivana has sold Mar- a- Lago to buy Donald a gold, jewel-encrusted anchor for his yacht. Though the Trumps are presented as wealthy, brand-obsessed philistines, the satire isn’t too pointed.
THE WINNER
Feb. 17, 1990: Following an appearance by the real- life Trump at the SNL 15th anniversary special in 1989, when Chevy Chase charged through the bleachers to dump popcorn on his head, Hartman resumed the role in this sketch set during Donald’s divorce battle with Ivana (played again by Hooks). By now, Hartman had perfected the nuances — the pursed lips, narrow gaze and unplaceable New York accent — of a Trump character depicted as a shrewd casino huckster, who goads Ivana into losing her pre- nuptial agreement on a game of three- card monte. “Do you realize how badly you’ve been beaten?” he taunts her.
THE REFORM POLITICIAN
Oct. 2, 1999: With the maverick reputation of his independent Reform Party starting to fade, the businessman H. Ross Perot ( Cheri Oteri) must find a new standard- bearer for the movement, and among the candi- dates he’s considering is Donald Trump ( played by Darrell Hammond). This prescient sketch had Trump’s political aspirations pegged early on, and it imagines him pitching a plan to replace the White House with a 90- storey government facility and casino — “all brass and class” — called Trump House. For a campaign slogan, he suggests: “I got it. You want it. Come and get it.”
THE REALITY TV STAR
Jan. 10, 2004: Two days after the premiere of The Apprentice, the NBC reality series that would propel Trump back into the cultural consciousness, Hammond played him again in an opening sketch. This Trump is a relentless selfpromoter who traffics in moxie rather than established facts — “I just learned yesterday that my own Taj Mahal in Atlantic City wasn’t the first Taj Mahal, but I guarantee you it’s the best” — and his suggestions for improving NBC aren’t much more sensible — “How does NBC Nightly News With Donald Trump sound? Good, right?” Jeff Zucker, then NBC Entertainment’s president, is played by Jimmy Fallon, the future Tonight Show host and Trump interlocutor.
THE JANITOR AND THE CHICKEN KING
April 3, 2004: With The Appren- tice now a Top 10 hit in the ratings, the flesh-and-blood Trump made a game first appearance as a Saturday Night Live host. “It’s great to be here at Saturday Night Live,” he told the audience in his opening monologue, “but I’ ll be completely honest, it’s even better for Saturday Night Live that I’m here. Nobody’s bigger than me. Nobody’s better than me. I’m a ratings machine.” After giving Hammond a few pointers on his Trump impression, he appeared in several comedy sketches, including a send- up of The Prince and the Pauper, in which Hammond played Trump and Trump played his own lowly doppelgänger, a janitor at Trump Tower. He also dressed in a bright yellow suit and tie, surrounded by SNL cast members costumed as chickens, in a fake ad for Trump’s House of Wings.
THE HAMMOND ERA
October 2004- December 2011: Over the next seven years, Hammond would portray Trump in more than a dozen sketches, some just silly and others more observant of his longer-term ambitions. The common denominator was Trump’s tendency for boastfulness. One skit from 2005 imagined him trying to film a commercial for Domino’s Pizza — “Personally, I think it’s the highest-quality pizza of the low-qual- ity pizzas.” Another, from 2011, pitted him against Sarah Palin (played by Tina Fey) in a debate among potential candidates for the 2012 Republican presidential nomination. Propositioning the Palin character to join his ticket, his Trump says, “If you want to be my vice-president, all you have to do is sell more chili than NeNe Leakes over the course of a hot summer day in Times Square.”
THE CANDIDATE- HOST
Nov. 7, 2015: When Trump returned to host SNL, now as a contender for the Republican presidential nomination, the circumstances could not have been more contentious. He had given a polarizing speech announcing his candidacy, in which he said of Mexican immigrants: “They’re bringing drugs. They’re bringing crime. They’re rapists.” NBC, in response, announced it was cutting its business ties with him and removing him as host of The Celebrity Apprentice. Despite hopes SNL might use this opportunity to take off its gloves, the sketches mostly went easy on the host ( except perhaps during his opening monologue, when Larry David stood up from the audience to shout, “Trump’s a racist!”) After the broadcast, Trump tweeted it was an “amazing evening” with “electricity all over the place.”
THE HIT JOB?
Oct. 15, 2016: As Election Day loomed, Baldwin had already made t wo appearances as Trump, now the official Republican nominee, in satirical reenactments of his debates with Democratic nominee Hillary Clinton ( Kate McKinnon). But one segment got under Trump’s skin. After a sketch that depicted him as petulant, short-tempered — “Do you feel you’re modelling appropriate and positive behaviour for today’s youth?” “No, next” — and tasteless — “Speaking of black men, you know who else should be in jail? Hillary Clinton” — Trump took to his Twitter account to push back at the show and his portrayal. “Watched Saturday Night Live hit job on me,” he wrote early the next morning. “Time to retire the boring and unfunny show. Alec Baldwin portrayal stinks. Media rigging election!”
PRESIDENT BALDWIN
Jan. 14, 2017 and Feb. 4, 2017: Trump’s victory on Nov. 8 did nothing to end the war of words between the combatants. The conflict came to a head six days before Trump’s inauguration with a sketch lampooning an awkward and pugnacious news conference. Trump pushed back at SNL the next day, writing: “@ NBC News is bad but Saturday Night Live is the worst of NBC. Not funny, cast is terrible, always a complete hit job. Really bad television!”