See Alec Baldwin Reveal Secret to His Trump Impersonation on ‘Late Show’
On Tuesday’s Late Show, Alec Baldwin detailed the key to his acclaimed SNL impersonation of President Trump. “It’s totally a caricature,” he told Stephen Colbert. “You just pick a few things … You go, ‘Left eyebrow up, right eyebrow down. Shove [your face] up, like you’re trying to suck the chrome off the fender of a car.”
The actor explained that he almost didn’t land the role, as SNL boss Lorne Michaels called him while he was prepping for a film role. But the former 30 Rock star told Colbert that after the gig fell apart, he called Michaels and announced, “‘I’m Trump! Here I come. I’m on my way!'”
Despite his varied acting resume, Baldwin said he’s earned more fan praise for his Trump impression than any other role. “It’s kind of eerie, actually,” he said, “but more than anything I’ve ever done, people come up and say something to me on the streets [about the performance].”
After Colbert half-joked that Baldwin should run for the real-life presidency, the actor countered that Trump’s surprise win didn’t “open the door for non-traditional candidates.” The host agreed, suggesting the U.S. should expect a more conventional election win in 2020: “It goes competency, incompetency, competency,” he cracked.
Baldwin also joined Colbert for a hilarious installment of “Too Much Exposition Theatre,” in which the duo crammed an entire play worth of backstory and plot development into four minutes of overstuffed dialogue.
The actors played regal noblemen – rival heirs of “castle Lancastwinshire” – in a convoluted scene filled with dramatic camera angles, maps, family tree discussions and a dagger-like basketball pump.