The Atlantic - Latest Comments in The War Against SNL

Re: The War Against SNL

Paul Wartenberg — Tue, 10 Mar 2009 21:32:59 -0000

The only problem with The Rock Obama skit was that it didn't go outrageous enough. Just having Rock Obama toss guys out of a window... meh. The smashing phone bit worked. When you Hulk out, you should go full set destruction. The end result on the screen was too timid.

P.S. The Rock should do Obama impressions for SNL for at least the reason of the season.

Re: The War Against SNL

Ta-Nehisi Coates — Tue, 10 Mar 2009 06:08:27 -0000

Yeah Hammond, sorry. And yeah, I dunno Paul. Measured against the rest of the regular SNL cast, Hammond's impressions always stand out.

Re: The War Against SNL

Paul — Tue, 10 Mar 2009 00:29:34 -0000

Also, Darrell Hammond is not a great impressionist. He did Bill Clinton very well. Everything else seems like Darrell Hammond doing Bill Clinton doing (Jesse Jackson,Cheney, Tweety, etc. etc.) IMHO.

Re: The War Against SNL

Paul — Tue, 10 Mar 2009 00:19:32 -0000

SNL needs sharp writers. Or at least funny writers. The show just sucks this year, a good impressionist is the least of their worries. That said, Iman Crosson seems to have the skills, they should give the guy a shot. ASAP.

Re: The War Against SNL

KarenZ — Mon, 09 Mar 2009 18:12:21 -0000

Whoa!! I was trying to figure the Darryl Hannah thing too. Darrell Hammond is so incredibly versatile that I'll be he could pull off a damn good Obama. The make-up issue would be a problem, though.

Iman Crosson is not just another impressionist/comedian. He is sharp. Listen to the lyrics of this rap (they're shown on the YouTube site). In less than two days, he took the substance of that speech and turned it into a serious, but funny, rap.

Bah! He's too smart for SNL.

Re: The War Against SNL

Kylopod — Mon, 09 Mar 2009 17:24:39 -0000

Darryl Hannah's Jesse Jackson

You mean Darrell Hammond. You had me weirded out for an entire minute there.

Hammond, by the way, is a great impressionist.

Re: The War Against SNL

Robert A. George — Mon, 09 Mar 2009 17:15:47 -0000

Ta-Neishi: While I imagine Darryl Hannah does a mean Jesse Jackson, methinks you might be referring to SNL's DARRELL HAMMOND? Unless Ms. Hannah made a "Splash" in the darker end of the cross-gender gene pool that I hadn't heard about? ;-)

Re: The War Against SNL

Ta-Nehisi Coates — Mon, 09 Mar 2009 15:48:22 -0000

Darryl Hannah's Jesse Jackson is better than Keenan's Al Sharpton. The problem isn't Armisen's whiteness, it's that his impression sucks. Were he good, it wouldn't matter.

Re: The War Against SNL

Kylopod — Mon, 09 Mar 2009 15:32:54 -0000

I can't think of any other white comedians doing black impressions besides him though.

Tracy Ullman.

Re: The War Against SNL

Keith — Mon, 09 Mar 2009 14:57:24 -0000

My boy and I came up with the idea of The Rock as Obama a couple years ago when he first announced his candidacy. I noticed that his speech cadence was very similar to The Rock's, so we were like, wouldn't it be cool if The Rock went on SNL and did Obama? The only difference is that in our idea, Johnson would deliver his Obama impression as The Rock, complete with catchphrases ("layeth the smackethdown on your pant-suited candy-ass" or something), thus punctuating the bit with "if ya ssmmmeeellllll what Ba-ROCK is cooking..."

So I was pleased and disappointed when I saw they were having Johnson do an Obama sketch. I liked the idea, but I wish he would've actually turned into The Rock and not "Hulk". Could you imagine him giving the People's elbow to McCain? That would have ruled.

Re: The War Against SNL

baltogeek — Mon, 09 Mar 2009 14:51:37 -0000

Kylopod understood.

I think the difference is how you chose to do the impression.

I don't think whites are absolutely barred from doing impressions of blacks as much as it's controversial when they use some sort of skin darkening makeup as part of it.

There's such a horrible history of white folks using makeup to "imitate" not only blacks but Asians and Native Americans in Hollywood I just can't see attitudes changing on that one.

IIRC Robin Williams used to do black impressions in his act back in the day. I can't think of any other white comedians doing black impressions besides him though.

Re: The War Against SNL

AdamK — Mon, 09 Mar 2009 14:46:48 -0000

I always thought Obama looked kinda like Opie. With the ears and the lifted chin and the furrowed brow and all.

Re: The War Against SNL

Kylopod — Mon, 09 Mar 2009 14:30:14 -0000

I didn't say Armisen looks like Obama's granddad. I said Obama looks like Obama's granddad. (Ambiguous pronoun usage on my part, sorry.) Armisen doesn't look like Obama at all, though perhaps he looks more like Obama than anyone else in the current SNL cast.

I don't think white people (or, in this case, half-white people) should be permanently barred from doing impressions of black people (or, in this case, half-black people). Maybe it wouldn't risk reminding us of blackface if there were more black comedians doing impressions of white people (a la Eddie Murphy).

And there's an element of a Catch-22 here. Getting Kenan to play skinny black guys like Michael Steele who look nothing like him is almost offensive, if you think about it. But what can they do? Better Kenan than Armisen, I'm sure you'd agree.

My main point about Obama is that he himself is half-white. I'm not trying to get into the "he's not really black" nonsense. I'm just saying there's more legitimacy to having a white guy do Obama than having a white guy do, say, Charles Barkley. Obama is not only biracial but looks it, with some Caucasian features and a passing resemblance to some white men (like his grandpa).

Re: The War Against SNL

TC in Brooklyn — Mon, 09 Mar 2009 14:23:38 -0000

Look, when it comes to impersonations, either you have to sound like the subject or look like the subject. Preferably you should be as close as possible on both counts. What irritates me about Armisen is that I don't think he has either mission down. Iman is pretty darn good, and I would love to see him on SNL. But Lorne Michaels has mindlock on this and real creativity is not happening on that show. Perhaps MAD TV could be an option?

Re: The War Against SNL

baltogeek — Mon, 09 Mar 2009 14:02:49 -0000

Why does everyone assume only blacks can resemble him? He actually looks quite a bit like his white grandfather.

Kylopod, who has been saying that?

Armisen wears "honeyface" so he can do the impression. For some folks just because he isn't doing the full Al Jolson that doesn't mean that it doesn't disturb.

I don't mean to speak for others but I think the objection has to do with the history of blackface in this country.

I think you are overlooking that.

As for Armisen looking like Obama's grandpa well we can leave that up to individual interpretation.

Picture of Obama's grand-dad:

www.bartcop.com/obama-grandfat...

Armisen:

http://img.wonkette.com/assets/resources/2008/02/76853208-thumb.jpg

Re: The War Against SNL

R.oB. — Mon, 09 Mar 2009 13:56:36 -0000

@TNC

What threw me was the "No disrespect." I was like is there another sense of the lingua that I missed from my Fight the Power days??!?!? ;-)

Re: The War Against SNL

maya — Mon, 09 Mar 2009 13:30:20 -0000

I absolutely agree that the problem with Armisen is that he has no charisma and is therefore the anti-Obama before he evens opens his mouth. The Rock did what he could with that sketch, though I thought it would have been funnier if he's stayed an articulate hulk, rather than the "me want stimulus" hulk. Though his Obama impersonation was actually better than Armisen's, frankly. And, as always, the sketch went way too long.

This guy is fantastic, but since SNL only has a one black guy per season quota, I guess it's not his year...

Re: The War Against SNL

Tray — Mon, 09 Mar 2009 13:24:23 -0000

This is the best Obama imitation out (same guy has 3 others, click on his username):

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gikgEc2Fb5o

Re: The War Against SNL

lfo — Mon, 09 Mar 2009 13:17:15 -0000

my problem with that skit on SNL is that is was all about emasculating Obama. Why is he not angrier? This is all we heard in the campaign from the likes of Dowd and I think the idea that Obama has to get angry so that republicans will take him seriously is a *republican* meme.

But The Rock was funnier than Armisen who is not funny at all

Re: The War Against SNL

Kylopod — Mon, 09 Mar 2009 13:12:44 -0000

it bothers me having a White guy doing a bad impersonation of Obama on SNL

Armisen is half-white, half-Asian. Obama is half-white, half-African. Why does everyone assume only blacks can resemble him? He actually looks quite a bit like his white grandfather.

Re: The War Against SNL

DB Cooper — Mon, 09 Mar 2009 12:30:52 -0000

The Rock was much better than Armisen (who stinks). I just like Dwayne Johnson, though.

Re: The War Against SNL

rikyrah — Mon, 09 Mar 2009 12:30:09 -0000

I'll be blunt; it bothers me having a White guy doing a bad impersonation of Obama on SNL. This Youtube guy is pretty darn good.

Re: The War Against SNL

Watson — Mon, 09 Mar 2009 12:16:18 -0000

Christopher B. Duncan (from the Jamie Foxx Show) did a pretty good impersonation of Obama on Jay Leno recently.

Re: The War Against SNL

Joel W — Mon, 09 Mar 2009 11:42:35 -0000

Crosson also was just a good rapper/writer in this, he came up with creative ways to say everything in the speech.

I am much more impressed by this impression than by Tina's Palin, because of level of difficulty. As Tina said, Palin is the easiest impression since Sling Blade.

Re: The War Against SNL

Kylopod — Mon, 09 Mar 2009 11:27:31 -0000

Here are my reasons for liking the SNL skit:

1. Good political skits usually have strong underlying ideas, and the concept here--Rahmbo's frustration at Obama's unflappable calmness--was a great angle.

2. The whole idea of Barack losing his cool and transforming into a hulkish figure, along with the pun on his name, was clever.

3. "The Rock Obama" really sounds like the kind of thing somebody would come up with in a dream. I even wonder whether one of the SNL writers did dream this skit up.

4. The Rock himself was surprisingly good, doing a better imitation of Obama than Armisen, though I guess that isn't so hard.