SNL is gearing up for its return, and just in time. The race for president has been moving along at a steady pace and the show is likely the last straggler in the comedy game that’s waiting to get a piece of the action. Today, the long-running sketch show announced who they have tapped from the cast to play Republican anti-hero, arch-fiend, Duke of going huge, Donald Trump. None other than Taran Killam, beating out a selection of cast members who auditioned for the role that will likely carry the show from week to week until Trump implodes. Deadline provides some of the details and reveals the other familiar face that will be making numerous appearances this season:
I hear several current cast members auditioned for the role, which went to Killam. Trump had memorably been played on SNL by former cast member Darrell Hammond, who is now the show’s announcer. I hear he was not in consideration for reprising his Trump impersonation and was not among those who auditioned. He will instead bring back his signature SNL character, Bill Clinton. Hammond has done cameos as Clinton following his departure from the show as a cast member in 2009, recently appearing alongside Kate McKinnon’s Hillary Clinton in a skit about Hillary’s presidential bid announcement last season. With Hillary running, Hammond’s Bill is expected to be featured prominently on the show next season.
That might explain why Hammond stepped back from being the new Colonel Sanders, but I’m still holding out hope for an eventual Super Bowl smackdown between Norm Macdonald’s version and Hammond’s. That said, I think Taran Killam is a great candidate for Trump. I couldn’t see anybody else on the current cast playing him, aside from maybe Bobby Moynihan. He’s busy with Chris Christie, though, so Killam it is.
Also nice to know that Kate McKinnon’s Hillary Clinton will be around, hopefully longer than the actual Hillary is around. Not that I think she’ll drop out, but I’m excited for the amount of chaos that would lather around if she did.
(Via Deadline)
