It’s been a turbulent year filled with a devastating pandemic, civil unrest, weather disasters, and a raucous political environment. As terrible as it’s been, however, comedy has made for quite the coping mechanism for many, and there’s no better source of parody than Saturday Night Live.
SNL‘s most well known moments in modern times have largely involved the late night sketch show’s political skits wherein its cast portrays a variety of the most prominent Republican and Democrat politicians. And of course, none have been as beloved – or as controversial – as Alec Baldwin‘s spot-on impersonation of President Donald Trump.
Since his first appearance as the president back in 2016, where he starred alongside Kate McKinnon’s Hillary Clinton, Baldwin has drawn the ire of many Republicans, and perhaps most notably, Trump himself. Nevertheless, his consistently hilarious parody mixed with the writers’ excellent play on recent events have continued to entertain SNL fans around the country.
That being said, now that the 2020 election has been won by Democratic challenger Joe Biden, Baldwin’s indicating that his time as Trump is coming to a close. And in a series of tweets on Saturday, he expressed his relief and excitement over losing the gig, though he acknowledged that it’s been an enjoyable experience.
I don’t believe I’ve ever been this overjoyed to lose a job before!
— AlecBaldwin(HABF) (@AlecBaldwin) November 7, 2020
It’s been fun. pic.twitter.com/iodKjbm2ie
— AlecBaldwin(HABF) (@AlecBaldwin) November 8, 2020
It’s uncertain whether this signals an immediate departure for Baldwin or if – much like President Trump’s term in office – it’s nearly time for him to move forward with new endeavors. Considering Trump’s unconventional hold on American politics, though, it’s not completely unreasonable to assume that the actor could return from time to time if the polarizing political figure did something that SNL‘s writers deemed worthy of parody.
For now, however, it seems Jim Carrey’s divisive impersonation of Joe Biden will be what we see the most of on SNL, but no one’s going to soon forget Alec Baldwin‘s extraordinary contribution to the show’s long legacy of political comedy.
