In the first 30 minutes of last Wednesday’s presidential debate, Donald Trump seemed determined to give Alec Baldwin and the Saturday Night Live writers absolutely nothing to work with. But Trump—who just last weekend admitted he had both seen and hated Baldwin’s popular impression—couldn’t seem to resist the bait laid out by Hillary Clinton—and by the end of the night, he had gifted both the internet and S.N.L. at least two easy jokes to play with. You better believe S.N.L., Kate McKinnon, and host Tom Hanks (as Chris Wallace) went after them with glee.
But the “bad hombre” and “nasty woman” punchlines were almost too easy; after all, the internet has had its fun with them for three days already. So S.N.L. spiced things up with a little nod to inter-Baldwin family trauma. Earlier in the week, Alec’s brother, avid Trump supporter Stephen Baldwin, had this to say about his brother’s impression:
So, of course, Stephen got a little shout-out from his brother Alec during the sketch. Saturday Night Live also addressed Trump’s controversial unwillingness to commit to conceding the election if he loses.
But perhaps most significantly, S.N.L. just gave audiences a glimpse of how its political comedy will look once the election is over. The show has never been shy about roasting Hillary Clinton here and there—but, for the most part, during these debate sketches McKinnon has leaned into playing the candidate as a gleeful woman knowing she’s going to win. With the Trump jokes perhaps feeling a little too easy, though, S.N.L. took some extra jabs at Clinton this weekend, with McKinnon both referring to herself as the “Republican” in the race and a “solid B” option. Odds are, the jokes on Clinton will get even sharper once she’s the only candidate left standing.
