There are books — the best of which is still “ Live From New York: An Uncensored History of Saturday Night Live ” — and countless movies, including a 2010 documentary and a 2024 feature, both titled “Saturday Night,” and a slew of comedies derived from popular “SNL” sketches, notably “The Blues Brothers” and “ Wayne’s World .”

Donald Trump ’s SNL episode was the fourth of Season 41, airing back in 2015. It appears he was set for an approved-by-Michaels sketch in which the business mogul would be dressed up like a tree while standing next to Shel Silverstein’s titular Giving Tree, who offers up its apples, shade, lumber and more until a point when its reduced to a stump.

From the daily newsletter: how Lorne Michaels became the king of Saturday night. Plus: Trump’s Greenland gambit; a rare look at Terrence Malick; and Blake Lively, Justin Baldoni, and the collapse of #MeToo.

And it was “not because it portrayed him as heartless," according to The New Yorker's profile of the show's creator Lorne Michaels.