Alec Baldwin Explains to R.E.M.'s Michael Stipe Why He Was Reluctant to Play Trump on SNL

As election day wound down, Alec Baldwin revealed what it was like to be asked (by SNL creator Lorne Michaels directly, no less) to play Donald Trump on the iconic late-night comedy show Saturday Night Live. Baldwin revealed the struggle beneath his generally well-received impression of the Republican candidate for president. (Predictably, Trump objected to Baldwin's portrayal in a tweet that's both laughable and frightening when taken in the context of SNL's history of political caricature and duty to American freedom of speech.)

In conversation with Baldwin on WNYC Studio's "Here's the Thing" podcast released Tuesday, R.E.M. frontman Michael Stipe said, "I was a big supporter of Bernie Sanders and went out and advocated for him and for his campaign."

Stipe admitted (as did Baldwin) to having reservations about voting for Hillary Clinton before the threat of Trump loomed. "I'm not a big fan... but all of us have to go and vote if not for someone, against someone. And we all have to vote against Donald Trump," said Stipe, reminding listeners he says this "as a Sanders supporter."

Baldwin added an ageist jab at Sanders as a candidate "in a telegenic age where the two [remaining] candidates now are old" by telling the story of a friend who said Sanders "doesn't have a chance... [because] people don't want Gepetto to be the president of the United States."

"I mean it's so sad that we have allowed ourselves to sink to this level of, really, entertainment, that's what it is," said Stipe of the current political discourse and culture in America. "And I blame media completely for it—including Saturday Night Live, sorry to say it," he said, with a laugh. Since he was, after all, in conversation with Baldwin, a frequent SNL guest.

Baldwin was easygoing: "Lay it on me, baby."

Stipe continued, asking Baldwin, "What does it feel like from inside—what does it feel like playing that character? It's satire, brilliantly done—but it's adding to the push of... [as] Andy Warhol said, 'there's no such thing as bad publicity.' How have we created this monster? How have we put our particular American brand onto this thing?"

When Lorne Michaels approached him to play Trump, Baldwin said, "My first impulse was, no. Because in order to do that [impression] effectively, you need to have some appreciation of the person."

"Wow," replied Stipe.

Wow indeed.

Listen (the politics talk begins around 31:00):