Darrell Hammond had the longest tenure portraying a U.S. president, portraying Bill Clinton from 1995 to 2001 and George W. Bush during 2003. He,
Joe Piscopo,
Phil Hartman, and
James Austin Johnson are the only cast members to have portrayed two sitting presidents.
Jason Sudeikis portrayed two sitting presidents, but the portrayal of the second president was performed as a host, rather than a cast member.
Dana Carvey also portrayed two sitting presidents, with the portrayal of the second president performed as a recurring guest. George H. W. Bush enjoyed Dana Carvey's impersonation of him. Carvey was invited to headline a White House Christmas party in 1992, during the
lame duck period after Bush had lost the
election. Two years later, on October 22, 1994, when Carvey hosted the show for the first time, Bush appeared in pre-recorded videos, in both the cold open and the opening monologue, critiquing Carvey's impersonation of him. Presidents are not usually portrayed on
Saturday Night Live after they leave office. Exceptions are limited to the portrayal of former president Richard Nixon who resigned prior to the launch of the show in 1975, Bill Clinton who appeared in sketches related to the presidential campaigns of his wife,
Hillary Clinton, and Donald Trump who continued to be politically active after leaving office. Dan Aykroyd portrayed Nixon from 1975 to 1979, and Darrell Hammond portrayed Nixon on episode 12 of season 34.
James Austin Johnson portrayed Trump during the period between Trump's two presidencies (seasons 47–50).
Impersonation of Donald Trump Donald Trump, having been a public figure before being president,
was portrayed by several cast members over the years. He was portrayed by
Phil Hartman (1988–1990),
Darrell Hammond (1999–2011, 2015–2016),
Jason Sudeikis (2012) and
Taran Killam (2015).
Alec Baldwin started impersonating Trump as a guest during the
42nd season of SNL in late 2016, when Trump was the Republican nominee during the
2016 United States presidential elections. Baldwin continued with the guest impersonations of Trump after the elections when Trump was
president-elect, as well as after
Trump was sworn in as president. Baldwin continued to impersonate Trump throughout
Trump's first presidency. Alec Baldwin's impersonation of Donald Trump earned him
an Emmy award in 2017, in spite of his public declaration that he "loathes the role" due to his personal disdain for Trump. At the end of
Season 44, Baldwin publicly announced that he would no longer be impersonating Trump, but changed his mind prior to the beginning of
Season 45 after
SNL executive producer
Lorne Michaels convinced him to continue with the impersonation. Following the
2020 presidential elections in which Trump lost re-election, Baldwin's tenure as Trump ended in the subsequent episode; he responded by tweeting "I don't believe I've ever been this overjoyed to lose a job before!" From the beginning of Trump's second term to present, he was portrayed by cast member
James Austin Johnson (who played the role several times between Trump's two presidencies). Trump has criticized Baldwin's portrayal on multiple occasions. In response, Baldwin taunted Trump with statements such as "release your tax returns and I'll stop." In June 2021, after Trump had left office, it was reported that while Trump was in office he had inquired if the
Federal Communications Commission or the
United States Justice Department could force
SNL to stop portraying him. Trump denied that he has ever made such an inquiry, but claimed that his portrayal by
SNL "should be considered an illegal campaign contribution from the
Democrat Party." He also criticized Baldwin's portrayal of him, but praised Darrell Hammond's portrayal of him. ==Returning to host==