Alec Baldwin

No one was exactly surprised to see Alec Baldwin kicking off the final five SNL episodes of Season 42 as Donald Trump, though the reluctantly recurring star added yet another major media impression. See Alec Baldwin face off with Alec Baldwin, as the reigning SNL host pulls double-duty as Trump and Bill O’Reilly for a Fox News sketch.

In the election’s immediate aftermath, we had to wonder if Alec Baldwin had the SNL commitment to keep playing Trump as necessary for such a weekly target. Baldwin’s been a sport since November, even pivoting the impression into other mediums, but may hang up the wig before long . “I don’t [know] how much more people can take it.”

Alec Baldwin’s been a regular presence at SNL this season, but surely his seventeenth official hosting turn is a big deal, right? Well, maybe not, judging by the reigning Trump impersonator’s promos, which see Baldwin revisiting his SNL past.

It seemed perhaps a little odd that Alec Baldwin’s Trump was nowhere to be found on the first post-inauguration SNL, but Baldwin is more than making up for it. SNL has officially booked a record-setting return for Baldwin as host, and Trump Twitter is officially on notice.

The initial shock of Donald Trump’s election left it unclear if SNL would continually call on Alec Baldwin for such an extended commitment, but the 30 Rock alum and ranking host has soldiered on, much to the real Trump’s enjoyable chagrin. Baldwin may even follow in Will Ferrell’s “Dubya” footsteps, apparently taking the role to “other venues.”

Complicit or otherwise, SNL knew that the first post-election show needed a note of relief, moreso than reminders of Trump’s victory. Presidential portrayer Alec Baldwin even expressed uncertainty he’d ever don the wig for SNL again, but sources confirm the sketch series’ take on Trump will return Baldwin to the limelight with Kristen Wiig this weekend.

This past weekend’s SNL offered a sobering reaction to Donald Trump’s presidential win, a concept the series has continually taken flack for helping to normalize. Now, it seems Alec Baldwin will retire his version of the Republican billionaire, also claiming that NBC denies SNL the ability to officially endorse either political party.

Alec Baldwin played a perfect Donald Trump during the Season 42 premiere of 'Saturday Night Live,' while Kate McKinnon was gleefully spot-on as Hillary Clinton.

We knew going in that the SNL 40th anniversary special would be chock-full of just about every famous person who has ever walked within spitting distance of 30 Rockefeller Plaza and the opening monologue was quick to make use of this genuinely insane temporary cast of stars. Things got started on the right foot when the always-welcome Steve Martin took the stage ... but then he was joined by Tom Hanks. And then things got really crazy.

It seems like Alec Baldwin's wife, Hilaria Baldwin, has been gestating her baby longer than Kim Kardashian and Kate Middleton combined, so it should come as no surprise that she finally gave birth on Friday (Aug. 23) to a daughter they named Carmen.