NEW YORK • A week after drawing an unhappy response from Mr Donald Trump for its portrayal of him in its spoof of the second presidential debate, Saturday Night Live did not back down on the third one.
Featuring the debate again in its cold open - this time with Tom Hanks playing Fox News moderator Chris Wallace - Alec Baldwin's Trump is as brutish and offensive as ever.
The sketch begins with Baldwin's Mr Trump promising to be calm and collected before erupting into a brasher persona: He forgets the name of Mexican President Enrique Pena Nieto and calls him "Senor Guacamole", his wife "Taquito" and his kids "Chips" and "Salsa".
In the sketch, Mr Trump refuses to accept the results of the election and accuses the media of rigging it, "by taking all of the things I say and all of the things I do and putting them on TV".
Baldwin also pokes fun at his own brother, Stephen, who is a Trump supporter.
The sketch also has Mr Trump offering the world's most meandering and nonsensical answer to a question about the Iraqi city of Mosul. There is even a subtle jab at his strange comment that he would date daughter Ivanka if she were not his daughter.
Audience laughter was clearly heard when Mr Trump said nobody respects women more than he does.
The scene then zooms out to outer space to show the whole planet laughing at the comment.
And, yes, there are jabs at Mrs Hillary Clinton too. Kate McKinnon took a triumphant tone as Mr Trump's Democrat rival, wriggling out of a question involving WikiLeaks and gleefully reciting her resume from the past 30 years.
As she pivots towards the electorate ("Who do you trust to be your president: the Republican or Donald Trump?"), Baldwin's Mr Trump pivots towards the day after Election Day: "On Nov 9, make sure to check out Trump TV - you're going to hate it."
There is a jab at Mrs Clinton's instantly exploiting Mr Trump's "nasty woman" comment for political gain. And she assures that she would be a "stone-cold B" as president.
But the butt of most of the jokes - and the toughest jokes - was again Mr Trump, whose over-the-top rhetoric and style were just made for these sketches.
Later in the show, Hanks portrayed a Trump supporter who surprisingly finds common ground with attendees on Black Jeopardy, a recurring skit on the show.
After the comedy show's parody of him following the second presidential debate, Mr Trump had tweeted his response, writing, "Watched Saturday Night Live hit job on me. Time to retire the boring and unfunny show. Alec Baldwin portrayal stinks. Media rigging election."
N Y TIMES, WASHINGTON POST
