In an interview with the (British) Press Association, actor Alec Baldwin indicated that he will likely retire his portrayal of President Donald Trump on Saturday Night Live at the end of the program's season in May.
Baldwin has been playing Trump since the program's season opener on Oct. 1. As the impression became popular, Baldwin decided to stay on with Saturday Night Live following Trump's improbable election.
Arguably, Baldwin's frequent appearances lampooning the President has helped SNL's resurgent ratings. According to Variety, Saturday Night Live's ratings were up 22 percent from October to February against the previous year.
Before Baldwin took over playing Trump, long-time cast member Darrell Hammond reprised his portrayal of Trump during the 2015-16 season.
In Baldwin's interview, he admitted that his take on Trump is a “caricature of a more malicious Trump”.
"Not much longer. This season on SNL... I’m going to do it as much as I can because I love them," Baldwin told the Press Association.
Baldwin claims that part of the reason why he is potentially leaving the character behind is because he believes Trump's presidency is no laughing matter. Baldwin is a supporter of the Democratic Party, and openly opposed Trump's election efforts.
Alec Baldwin tells PA he may retire his Donald Trump impersonation when the current series of @nbcsnl ends in May pic.twitter.com/UjgNW40gBM
— Press Association (@PA) March 31, 2017
“We’ll be around the corner to the one-year anniversary of the election this fall. I think people will be in a completely different frame of mind," Baldwin said.
“We’ll see if this is actually the first satire-resistant president.”
Whether Baldwin would be up for playing Trump in a movie, the actor responded, “You’d have to pay me an ungodly amount of money because it would be exhausting. It would be tiresome.”
