Ranking SNL's Trump Impressions

"Not funny, cast is terrible, always a complete hit job. Really bad television!"

Tomorrow will be my third presidential election. I've voted for three different people, but I've voted against the same guy every time. Trump has been at the forefront of the political conversation my entire adult life, which means he's also been a regular feature during my weekly appointment viewing of Saturday Night Live.

I've seen it all: Trump the businessman, Trump the celebrity, Trump the presidential candidate, Trump the president, Trump the former president. SNL has covered it all, so let's rank their decades of Trump impressions, including only straight-up impressions and not characters who do their best Trump in a sketch (like this or this):

6. Jason Sudeikis (2012)

Sudekis only played Trump once, in a 2012 Fox & Friends sketch that wasn't particularly funny. To be fair, his skills as a performer do not have anything to do with impressions. His most successful real-life character is probably Joe Biden, he played in the same way that Chevy Chase played Gerald Ford - low on reality, big on vibes. He’s so bad at Trump, in fact, one has to wonder if he simply drew the short straw that week.

5. Phil Hartman (1988–1990)

Phil Hartman, as funny as he may have been, ends up low on this list solely because of the kind of Trump he played. It was the '80s! Trump had the Midas touch, he was the man living high in his ivory Trump Tower. Anyone with reasonable skills of deduction knew that he was totally full of shit, but the public persona of one Donald Trump wasn't particularly hurting anybody.

Hartman can play slimy with the best of them, but unfortunately, thinking of Trump in that way is a luxury we haven't had in a very long time. Plus, he's playing a Phil Hartman character, not doing an impression, and if we're ranking impressions...

4. Taran Killam (2015)

Taran Killam actually attempted a pouty, grunty impression of the man who, at the time, was a silly presidential candidate. Still, unfortunately for his standing on this list, it's not really any better than the one that just about all of us have in our back pocket now. He only did it three times and in his first appearance, a 2015 haha-this-guy-thinks-he-could-be-president sketch, he's totally overshadowed by Cecily Strong playing Melania. In all fairness, Cecily acted circles around just about everybody, but it doesn't help his memorability factor.