'Saturday Night Live' premiere sees Alec Baldwin return to mock Trump impeachment inquiry
Despite rumblings that he’d retire his Emmy-winning portrayal of Donald Trump, Alec Baldwin was back in his navy suit and bronzer for Saturday Night Live’s Season 45 premiere, hosted by Woody Harrelson. Unsurprisingly, the latest headlines about Trump’s impeachment inquiry, prompted by his conversations with the president of Ukraine, proved excellent fodder for the show’s cold open.
“It’s the greatest presidential harassment of all time,” Baldwin as Trump complains to lawyer Rudy Giuliani, played by Kate McKinnon in a bald cap. “I should know, I’m like the president of harassment.”
“Giuliani” tries to reassure POTUS that word won’t get out about their “side dealings” and “cover-up” — only to reveal that he’s speaking from the set of CNN.
A frustrated Trump then turns to Attorney General William Barr, played by Aidy Bryant — who would succumb to an attack of the giggles later in the show following an on-screen SNAFU. Mike Pence, Don Jr. and Eric Trump — who crack about “treason” in Russia — and Kim Jong-un are also consulted.
“How do you handle a whistleblower?” Baldwin’s Trump asks the North Korean leader, portrayed by new featured cast member — and the show’s first Asian-American star — Bowen Yang.
“Oh, that’s easy,” “Kim” responds. “You have a big ocean in your country? ... Send whistleblower to the bottom of there.”
And a year after musical guest Kanye West made a controversial, MAGA-inspired speech during the 2008 SNL premiere, cast member Chris Redd pops up to play the rapper, joking that he’s now taking his medication.
“I don’t think we can be friends no more, fam?” Redd’s West tells Trump, just before Kenan Thompson’s Don King jokes, on behalf of the “Black Whackadoos” that the impeachment inquiry is “hurting our brand.”
“Oh, don’t bail on me now, I need my urbans,” whines “Trump.” “Kanye, just tell me who you want out of jail this time? A$AP Rocky again, or how about that little girl, Teriyaki 69?”
Cecily Strong’s Jeanine Pirro emerges on the line to give him a pep talk, urging him to call ... ”fixer” Ray Donovan, the fictional Showtime character played by actor Liev Schreiber.
“I told you, Mr. President, Ray Donovan’s a fictional character,” Schreiber says, then breaks the bad news that John Wick is also not a real person.
The bit ends with “Trump” vowing to reach out to the actually real Liam Neeson.
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