Trump apparently tried to improvise his way through his 'SNL' hosting gig
Improvising during the live show is considered highly inappropriate, as "SNL" alum Jon Rudnitsky told People this weekend.
"On set, he would be like, 'I'm going to riff - I'm just going to riff here,'" Rudnitsky said.
"By the way, nobody riffs on 'SNL.' Not Will Ferrell, not anybody in the history of 'SNL' has ever riffed. There are cue cards there for a reason, it's live. And he went off on the show, and you can kind of tell when he's trying to do a thing. You're like, 'Eh, you're not a comedian.'"
NBC sparked controversy when it announced that Trump, then a Republican presidential candidate, was hosting the November 15 episode of the long-running sketch comedy show. Latino advocacy groups, as well as the Congressional Hispanic Caucus, protested Trump's selection in light of his comments on Mexican immigration.
The episode itself earned mostly negative reviews from critics. Ahead of the episode, Trump said he rejected a number of sketches he deemed "too risque" because he felt they could jeopardize his rising poll numbers.
But according to Rudnitsky, Trump also vetoed any sketch he felt didn't compliment him enough.
"He had trouble with the sketches, and if a sketch wasn't complimentary about him - mainly physically - he wasn't into it," Rudnitsky told People. "He'd go, 'It's cute, but no - next.'"
"He was just onto the next if it wasn't about how great he was," he continued. "I'm totally serious. I mean, there were some really funny sketches that he just didn't get. His sense of humor is definitely skewed."