Alec Baldwin Almost F*cked Up His Jaw Trying to Talk Like Trump on 'SNL'

Alec Baldwin gets real about how hard it is to capture Donald Trump's "aggressive" tendencies on 'SNL.'

November 8, 2016

Alec Baldwin as Trump — Image via NBC
NBC

A tiny beacon of hope throughout the final, grueling months of this election cycle has been Alec Baldwin and Kate McKinnon's masterful Saturday Night Live performances. As Republican nominee Donald Trump and Democratic nominee Hillary Clinton, the two were able to highlight the maddening absurdities of 2016 America before making an admittedly tear-jerking call for unity on the final pre-election episode. In a new interview Tuesday on the Brian Lehrer Show, Baldwin revealed he wasn't immediately keen on committing to SNL's election mockery.

"They knew where they were headed with election coverage with it being as close as it was and all," Baldwin said, as first spotted by the Hollywood Reporter. "When [Lorne Michaels] asked me, I said no. I thought, I don't want to do that. I don't think I can. But you get lucky, and I think people were ready to take in that version of him, which is so aggressive." Baldwin doesn't, however, "hate" the Republican nominee. Instead, Baldwin sees him as a "huge television star" who pulled a fast one on the American people.

"I don't hate Trump, but he's not somebody I admire," Baldwin explained, noting that Michaels first hit him up about the gig after Tina Fey's suggestion. "You just watch him and try to see him, like a caricaturist who draws. This is an exaggeration. I almost sprained my jaw pushing my lower jaw forward to talk the way he does."

In an interview with the Billy Bushless Today crew last month, Hilaria Baldwin confirmed that her husband politely keeps the Trump impression away from the family. "We do not practice Trump at home, right honey?" Hilaria jokingly told Alec. "We leave Trump at SNL!" Wise choice.