Saturday Night Live Frets Over Barack Obama
TONY Blair leaves office and no impersonator can do Gordon Brown. And in American, there is debate over how Barack Obama should be parodied.
Tabloid Baby, Anorak’s man in LA, takes a look:
Lorne Michaels’ Saturday Night Live has never displayed much worry about white castmembers playing “blackface” (think Darrell Hammond as Jesse Jackson). But in the case of Barack Obama, who made a cameo appearance in the last episode before the WGA strike, there was some hand-wringing in the media about the need for a regular, politically-correct Obama character, and, with young Kenan Thompson too fat for the role, rumours that a tall, lanky African-American Obama player was about to join the cast (a chubby white girl as added to replace Maya Rudolph instead).
In the end, they used Fred Armisen. Any controversy was immediately deflected because the makeup was laugh-out-loud good. And they sidestepped the “blackface issue” on a couple of counts: Armisen didn’t need more than a light bronzing, as both he and Obama are of mixed race heritage (Obama with a white mother and Kenyan father; Armisen is Venezuelan on his mother’s side and part Japanese).
By the way, last night’s SNL episode was one for the time capsule: the first consistently- funny show since the fifth episode of the second season (and as a reminder, Steve Martin made an appearance). The sketches were tight and actually laugh-inducing, and with the exception of Carrie Underwood’s subpar performance (why do the musical acts always sound so bad on this show while there’s never a problem on Conan?) and Tina Fey’s desperate Hillary-flogging during the news segment, the show held up to the end! As it was the first fresh SNL since the start of the Writers Guild Strike, the solution to SNL’s quality control problem is obvious (Ben Silverman take note): cut back Saturday Night Live to once every 16 weeks.
Can anyone do Gordon Brown? And has Janet Brown ever worked since Maggie was gotten Out! Out! Out!
Posted: 24th, February 2008 | In: Anorak In New York, Barack Obama, Gordon Brown, Politicians Comments (3) | Follow the Comments on our RSS feed: RSS 2.0 | TrackBack | Permalink
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March 1st, 2008 at 4:52 am
Just another example of selective racism, self-centered indignation, and a form of ethnic arrogance. Why can’t a funny person do a funny skit and just leave it at that. Why do we have to have a racial purity test before we’re allowed to appreciate this man’s efforts? And the ironic aspect of people decrying racial bias and then demanding race be a basis for selecting is maddening. Why is it okay to not have racial preferences in hiring and also have the expectation that we’ll consider race when hiring? I don’t give a crap what race you are - just be competent at your job and accept that life gives you nothing that you don’t deserve. And know this - carping and whining about life being hard and then blaming others through your skin color is not the way to make it in life - get over yourself and accept that you hold the keys to your future ( just like Mayor Nagen had the keys to the school buses in New Orleans).
February 26th, 2008 at 12:18 am
Speaking from one African American perspective. They DID NOT ‘avoid’ the ‘blackface issue’. My circle of friends and family were turned off by the whole scene. Please don’t attempt to speak for us.
Of course race is indeed an artificial construct. But race is also much more than the hue of someone’s skin. If it were simply about skin tone George Hamilton would’ve been in more Spike Lee films than Samuel L. Jackson.
The larger question that begs an answer is; why does a seminal show that has been ingrained in our culture for more than a generation continue to find it ‘difficult’ to consistently present and choose talent from what is a proven rich, talented pool of African American comedic actors. Furthermore, wrap your mind around this. If they don’t pick up the option on Kenan Thompson. We could have a Black President and again have no Black cast members on SNL.
February 24th, 2008 at 9:48 pm
I think Tina Fey is a STUPID “B*%#^@”!! Why would she think that anything she has to say has any real importance?! I Hate everything about this woman from the ugly scar on her face to her ugly old lady shoes!
Bitch is not the new Black…your just a crazy white bleep!