Saturday Night Live has had a long and mostly proud history of presidential impersonations. From Dan Akroyd’s Nixon to Will Ferrell’s Bush (I’ll spare you the lame entendre) SNL cast members have captured the hilarity of our nation’s presidents.
With the exception of Chevy Chase as Gerald Ford, most of the impersonations have been superb.
On Saturday in the first episode of SNL since the writer’s strike began, SNL revealed its newest presidential impersonation. Fred Armisen will be playing Barack Obama.
Obviously, no logical choice emerged for the role of Fauxbama.
Keenan Thompson is the only black cast member and a good impersonator, but Obama is built more like Mischa Barton than Keenan Thompson. Most of the rest of the cast are white.
Clearly, this was a difficult decision, but considering the show had three months to decide, Fred Armisen seems like an awful choice.
This is nothing against Armisen. He is talented and funny, but his impersonation of Senator Barack Obama is lacking.
I am not the first one to make this point. Maureen Ryan of the Chicago Tribune argued the same thing on Sunday.
However — for Ryan — SNL’s err in judgment had a lot to do with race. For me, it is all about comedy.
I understand the uneasiness that accompanies a nonblack actor playing a black character.
I also understand that SNL has not had the best history with this type of thing. I’m looking at you Darryl Hammond (he plays Jesse Jackson on the show).
However, can anyone really think about race when Fred Armisen is so colossally unfunny as Barack Obama.
As of Saturday, it was apparent that Armisen had only one of Obama’s mannerisms down. During the cold open, Armisen never once employed any facial expression other than the Obama scowl.
Where is the signature smile?
Where is the charisma?
Can someone please tell Armisen that he is not impersonating Fred Thompson?
The main focus of the entire sketch was the media loves Obama. While this was dead-on and funny, there was no evidence in Armisen’s impersonation as to why the media loves him.
Of course, not all of the blame should be heaped onto Armisen and SNL. No one has really been able to uncover what is funny about Barack Obama.
Aside from Ann Coulter, comedian extraordinaire and her jokes about Obama’s middle name, no one is really even trying.
Obama seems to be too sincere to lampoon. However there is always something worth laughing about.
To me it seems sort of easy. It’s the Obamania, stupid.
SNL got it half right by poking fun at how much the media loves Obama. However, they failed to tap the comedy resources of an Obama character that embraces his stardom.
The Obama character should be the Fonzie of presidential candidates. He should fix Iraq with the tap of his fist. He should sport leather jackets and shades. He should show up late, leave early, and treat everything like he does not really care.
Because if Obama is president, I believe that America deserves better than Armisen’s current overly serious take on the Senator from Illinois.
Maybe we can’t do anything substantial to change SNL or Fred Armisen’s mind, but I like to believe that we can.
Yes, we can.
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