Far be it from us to make demands from Lorne Michaels, but if we could just make one teensy request: Lorne, could you please, please release the tape of Pete Davidsons audition to play Donald Trump on Saturday Night Live?
Yep, its true: Davidson, along with all the other men in the S.N.L. crew, were called upon to audition for the part back in 2015, after Trump announced his candidacy for the Republican nomination for president. In an interview with Variety, Davidson said his audition was bad. Like, really bad. “First of all, Im 10 pounds, so I looked insane,” he said. “They made us all get dressed up and tanned up. I sounded like Thunderlips from Rocky III. . . . It was a nightmare. If I could get my hands on this tape, its embarrassing as fuck.” Needless to say, Davidson did not get the role; the part was played by Taran Killam from 2015 to 2016, when Alec Baldwin famously took up the blond wig in the fall of 2016.
Davidson was one of the youngest performers ever to join the S.N.L. cast when he made his debut on the series in 2014, at the age of 20. A year later—after that dreadful audition—he was present for the infamous episode Trump hosted. As Davidson puts it, “It wasnt the most fun week ever.”
“He doesnt get jokes,” Davidson told Variety. “He doesnt get tone. He doesnt get punch lines. Hell say words differently. Hes just a dweeb.”
Upon further consideration, Davidson added one final thought on the commander in chief: “Dude, any president that is taking pictures of himself on a private plane eating Kentucky Fried Chicken is a fucking psycho,” he says. “What are you? A fucking Kardashian?”
Going back to that tape, though: frankly, were not convinced Davidsons Trump audition was as bad as he thinks it is. The comedian is known to be self-deprecating, and in our minds eye, we can just begin to picture an off-kilter Trump impression from him that could approach transcendence. As we all know, Baldwin has been lauded for his performance as Trump, winning an Emmy for his trouble—though his impression has faced no shortage of critique, and Baldwin himself may have decided to finally hang up his orange makeup at the end of S.N.L.s most recent season. Given all that, why not try swapping in Davidson this fall—even just for a single sketch?
Either way, Lorne, feel free to have your people call our people, so we can set up a screening of that audition tape. Davidson might not be convinced hes got what it takes to play Trump, but we suspect his performance could be tremendous.
Get Vanity Fairs HWD NewsletterSign up for essential industry and award news from Hollywood.Laura BradleyLaura Bradley is a Hollywood writer for VanityFair.com.
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