--- title: SNL: Taran Killam on Trump Hosting Episode description: The former 'SNL' star reminisced on sharing the stage with Donald Trump in 2015, before he was president. canonical: https://time.com/4729655/taran-killam-trump-snl/ author: Raisa Bruner article:opinion: false article:content_tier: free article:published_time: 2017-04-06T19:45:06.000Z article:modified_time: 2026-08-04T07:47:32.719Z og:title: Taran Killam on What It Was Like When Trump Hosted SNL og:description: The 'SNL' comedian recalls table reads where Trump "didn't get the jokes." og:url: https://time.com/4729655/taran-killam-trump-snl/ og:site_name: TIME og:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt9a2d869416e84c09/6988c1c7196cf43fe503f916/trump-killam-snl.jpg?branch=production&width=3840&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 og:image:width: 1200 og:image:height: 675 og:image:alt: Saturday Night Live - Season 41 og:type: article twitter:card: summary_large_image twitter:title: Taran Killam on What It Was Like When Trump Hosted SNL twitter:description: The 'SNL' comedian recalls table reads where Trump "didn't get the jokes." twitter:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt9a2d869416e84c09/6988c1c7196cf43fe503f916/trump-killam-snl.jpg?branch=production&width=3840&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 ---  # Taran Killam on What It Was Like When Donald Trump Hosted Saturday Night Live ## Video: TIME Raw: Protesters March Against Trump Hosting SNL at Rockefeller Center [Watch (HLS stream): TIME Raw: Protesters March Against Trump Hosting SNL at Rockefeller Center](https://cdn.jwplayer.com/manifests/vqAJCSQI.m3u8) (0:56)  _Published 2015-11-08. TIME Raw: People Protest Against Trump Hosting SNL at Rockefeller Center_  by [Raisa Bruner](https://time.com/author/raisa-bruner/)  ## Raisa Bruner Apr 6, 2017 7:45 PM UTC  SATURDAY NIGHT LIVE -- "Donald Trump" Episode 1687 -- Pictured: (l-r) Taran Killam, Donald Trump, and Darrell Hammond during the monologue on November 7, 2015 -- (Photo by: Dana Edelson/NBC/NBCU Photo Bank via Getty Images) SATURDAY NIGHT LIVE -- "Donald Trump" Episode 1687 -- Pictured: (l-r) Taran Killam, Donald Trump, and Darrell Hammond during the monologue on November 7, 2015 -- (Photo by: Dana Edelson/NBC/NBCU Photo Bank via Getty Images)NBC—NBCU Photo Bank via Getty Images  by [Raisa Bruner](https://time.com/author/raisa-bruner/)  ## Raisa Bruner Apr 6, 2017 7:45 PM UTC Back in November 2015, then Republican presidential nominee Donald Trump snagged a spot hosting [_Saturday Night Live_](http://time.com/4102387/jim-norton-donald-trump-snl/). He performed alongside his then-imitators, comedians [Taran Killam](http://time.com/4104199/donald-trump-snl-backstage-photos/item/taran-killam-as-trump/) and [Darrell Hammond](http://time.com/4104199/donald-trump-snl-backstage-photos/item/darrell-hammond-as-trump/), who were full-time members of the cast (unlike Alec Baldwin, who has been helming the Trump impressions more recently, [to general aplomb](http://time.com/4688341/alec-baldwin-donald-trump-saturday-night-live/)). In a new [interview](http://www.bkmag.com/2017/04/04/taran-killam-hamilton-get-out-post-snl-career-gunther/) with _Brooklyn_ magazine, Killam—who now spends his time on Broadway, playing King George [in a little show](http://time.com/4365931/tonys-2016-recap-wrap-hamilton/) called _Hamilton_—reminisced on that memorable performance with Trump. “It was not fun, and most of the cast and writers were not excited to have him there,” Killam recalled. “I didn’t get the feeling that he was excited to be there, and it felt like a move for ratings from both sides.” He also reflected on Trump’s experience behind-the-scenes. “What you see is what you get with him, really. I mean, there was no big reveal. He struggled to read at the table read, which did not give many of us great confidence. Didn’t get the jokes, really. He’s just a man who seems to be powered by bluster,” Killam said of the president. That controversial episode of which Killam speaks [ended up falling rather flat](http://time.com/4103978/donald-trump-saturday-night-live-review/?iid=sr-link6), with reviewers suggesting that the show played it safe. ```json [{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"NewsArticle","@id":"https://time.com/4729655/taran-killam-trump-snl/","mainEntityOfPage":{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https://time.com/4729655/taran-killam-trump-snl/"},"headline":"Taran Killam on What It Was Like When Donald Trump Hosted Saturday Night Live","datePublished":"2017-04-06T19:45:06.000Z","dateModified":"2026-08-04T07:47:32.719Z","description":"The 'SNL' comedian recalls table reads where Trump \"didn't get the jokes.\"","url":"https://time.com/4729655/taran-killam-trump-snl/","keywords":["Newsfeed","celebrities","Saturday Night Live","Donald Trump"],"thumbnailUrl":"https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt9a2d869416e84c09/6988c1c7196cf43fe503f916/trump-killam-snl.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=1200:675&height=675","author":[{"@type":"Person","name":"Raisa Bruner","jobTitle":null,"url":"https://time.com/author/raisa-bruner/"}],"articleSection":"","image":[{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt9a2d869416e84c09/6988c1c7196cf43fe503f916/trump-killam-snl.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=1200:675&height=675","width":1200,"height":675,"headline":"Saturday Night Live - Season 41","caption":"Saturday Night Live - Season 41","creditText":"NBC—NBCU Photo Bank via Getty Images","representativeOfPage":true}],"publisher":{"@type":"Organization","name":"Time","url":"https://time.com/","logo":{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https://time.com/images/logo.png","width":528,"height":156},"foundingDate":"March 3, 1923","sameAs":["https://www.facebook.com/time","https://www.instagram.com/time/?hl=en","https://twitter.com/time","https://www.pinterest.com/timemagazine"]}},{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"BreadcrumbList","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"item":{"@id":"/tag/time-section-newsfeed/","name":"Newsfeed"}},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"item":{"@id":"https://time.com/4729655/taran-killam-trump-snl/","name":"Taran Killam on What It Was Like When Donald Trump Hosted Saturday Night Live"}}]},{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"VideoObject","name":"TIME Raw: Protesters March Against Trump Hosting SNL at Rockefeller Center","description":"TIME Raw: People Protest Against Trump Hosting SNL at Rockefeller Center","thumbnailUrl":"https://cdn.jwplayer.com/v2/media/vqAJCSQI/poster.jpg?width=720","uploadDate":"2015-11-08T16:54:29.000Z","contentUrl":"https://cdn.jwplayer.com/manifests/vqAJCSQI.m3u8","embedUrl":"https://time.com/4729655/taran-killam-trump-snl/","duration":"PT56S","potentialAction":{"@type":"SeekToAction","target":"https://time.com/4729655/taran-killam-trump-snl/?jw_start={seek_to_second_number}","startOffset-input":"required name=seek_to_second_number"}}] ```