David Letterman explains why Alec Baldwin deserves the Medal of Freedom for his Donald Trump SNL impression

'Comedy’s one of the ways that we can protect ourselves'

(Will Heath/NBC)

David Letterman left late-night television in May 2015, just one month before Donald Trump officially announced his bid for Presidency.

While his Late Show replacement - Stephen Colbert - has done a wonderful job calling out the President’s administration, the satirical tone of Letterman has been dearly missed.

Speaking to New York Magazine, the host spoke candidly about Trump - who he and his son, Harry, call ‘Trumpy’ - along with various other subjects.

Notably, Letterman pinpointed how comedy can be used to protect the American people, mentioning how Alec Baldwin, who has impersonated Trump on SNL, should be award the Medal of Freedom.

“Comedy’s one of the ways that we can protect ourselves,” he said. “Alec Baldwin deserves a Presidential Medal of Freedom. Sadly, he’s not going to get it from this president.”

Asked why comedy is so effective, Letterman explained: “The man has such thin skin that if you keep pressure on him — I remember there was a baseball game in Cleveland, and a swarm of flies came on the field and the batters were doing this [mimes swatting at flies] while the pitcher was throwing 100 miles an hour.

"Well, that’s Alec Baldwin and Saturday Night Live. It’s distracting the batter. Eventually Trump’s going to take a fastball off the sternum and have to leave the game.”

Baldwin recently spoke about why he may soon retire his SNL role: "His policies aside, which you can hate, I thought he would have just relaxed. The maliciousness of this White House has people worried… that’s why I’m not going to do it much longer, the impersonation, I don’t know how much more people can take it.”

Read Baldwin’s comments here and the fascinating full interview with Letterman here.