Alec Baldwin Returns to the 'SNL' Cold Open in an Unexpected New Role
For the fourth week in a row, Saturday Night Live treated audiences to biting political commentary filled with unexpected celebrity cameos during the show’s cold open. Though Andy Samberg’s Doug Emhoff was absent during Episode 4 of the show's historic Season 50, Alec Baldwin, who won an Emmy for his SNL portrayal of Donald Trump, returned to Studio 8H to impersonate Fox News host Bret Baier. The show was obviously spoofing Baier's interview with Kamala Harris, which made the rounds on social media earlier this week.
The Fox News interviewer was criticized for interrupting and talking over the Vice President, something the sketch humorously pointed out. When Baldwin asks Harris (Maya Rudolph) to answer a question (one she’s been trying to respond to for some time) she explains, “You have to listen.” He responds, “Well, I can’t because I’m talking.”
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After the interview gained media attention, Baier appeared on Fox News saying that Harris had a “mission” to create a viral moment during the interview, something the SNL writers had a field day with. Even though Rudolph’s Kamala denies that this is true, throughout the scene she turns straight to a TikTok camera and cashes in on some of the app’s most viral memes, like when she says, “See how I don’t let men interrupt my answers? Very demure. Very mindful.”
One of the biggest controversies surrounding the now infamous interview was when Baier admittedly did not play the correct clip of Donald Trump that Harris referenced, leading to one of the most heated moments during their back and forth. In the parody version, however, when Rudolph pushes back and demands to see the clip she was talking about, we see that Trump (James Austin Johnson) isn’t talking about anything at all and instead is dancing at his town hall event (which he did for about 40 minutes). Rudolph’s response? “He can dance all he wants to 'Y.M.C.A.' or to any other song he doesn’t realize is a gay anthem.”
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You can watch the entire cold open here:
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