"I used to say to my mom, a lot, during a period of time of a couple years where I'd say, 'I don't feel good,' and I'd lay on the couch and I was really sick, and the only thing I'd have the strength to do is watch TV all afternoon and all morning," he said. "And I would watch game shows. I loved all those old Broadway hands that would come on. You know, Brett Somers and Robert Q Lewis. And I just devoured 'What's My Line?' 'To Tell the Truth,' and 'Match Game.'"
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The host gig is a reflection of a change in the star's attitude that came with marriage and fatherhood. Baldwin's focus is on his family, and that's meant a change in the type of jobs he wants to do.
"I am so happy to come here and do this," he said. "We have a ball. We have fun. But I have the best time doing the show. I love it."
And his wife, Hilaria, is among the celebrity panelists.
"My wife is my best friend, and I'm hopelessly in love with my wife," he said. "Her coming can only be a positive, and I just hope that the writers don't decide to do what people always do when my wife is on board for something, which is they give her the best lines which are at my expense."
The couple has four young children, and the star cites family as the reason he is in no hurry to return as President Donald Trump on "Saturday Night Live" for producer Lorne Michaels.
"You wind up going to bed at 3 o'clock in the morning, and Sunday rolls around, my kids are up at 5:30," he said. "I don't know how well you do on two-and-a-half hours sleep, but I'm not at my best...But if he asks me to do it, of course I would."
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I asked him, "It seems like, for want of a better word, there's a greater serenity there. Am I right or wrong?"
"I think what I am is I care less about things that aren't important," he said. "I was fixated on goals I had, and now, I'm not fixated on those goals anymore. Whatever happens, happens, and I'm totally cool."
Baldwin said his primary goal is for his family to be happy, but never knowing what the star will say next hasn't changed. It is one reason he draws so many viewers to projects like "Match Game."
"If I do a game show, if I do a drama, if I do a sitcom, if I do a movie, I don't really care anymore," he said. "So long as my family's happy."
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