Alec Baldwin reveals Lorne Michael's “Jedi mind trick” to get him to play Donald Trump on 'SNL'

rambo

6 years ago

ABC(NEW YORK) — Alec Baldwin was Jimmy Fallon’s guest on a special Sunday night edition of NBC’s The Tonight Show, and revealed the “Jedi mind trick” Saturday Night Live producer Lorne Michaels used to get him to reprise his impersonation of President Donald Trump, despite vowing never to do it again.

Baldwin says it begins with Michaels calling him up the day before the show. “And he’s like, [mimicking Lorne’s voice] ‘Well, I don’t think you understand.’ And I go, ‘what don’t I understand? I’ve been thinking about it like all summer, every day that’s all I think about.'”

“Unconsciously, Lorne starts with one powerful premise, which is, ‘I hired you, didn’t I? My judgement is flawless. I gave you your biggest job, right?'” Baldwin continues. “And you’re kinda like, ‘Yeah, he’s got a point.'”

Adds Baldwin, “So I came and I did it, and I’m going to do it a few times.”

Alec also told Fallon that the impression gets a mixed reaction from people he meets on the street.

“Most people will walk up to me and go, ‘Thank you,'” he explains. “Or, it’s like a bunch of construction workers and they’re like, ‘There he is, that a****** Alec Baldwin.'”

“But it’s all a spoof, we don’t mean anything bad,” Baldwin said, before adding with a hearty laugh, “That’s the funniest thing I’ve heard all year.”

Baldwin was promoting his upcoming film, Motherless Brooklyn, opening nationwide November 1.