If you would indulge me for a moment (and hopefully not be too offended), I’d like to take time out from more serious topics to discuss … late-night sketch comedy and political satire.
This piece in yesterday’s Chicago Tribune, which was inspired by this piece from The Daily Beast, once again got me to thinking about the sorry state of Saturday Night Live when it comes to non-white cast members. The emergence of Barack Obama on the political stage has really exposed the show’s weakness on this point. I like Fred Armisen, who currently does Obama on the show, but I haven’t been that impressed with his impersonation. His take on Obama feels flat, without much nuance or irony. It’s as if he’s so busy trying to look like Obama that he doesn’t feel the freedom to dive deeper into the character and make him his own, the way Tina Fey did with Sarah Palin.
Anyway, I’m not one to say the actor portraying Obama has to be an African American, but all of the best Obama impersonations that I’ve seen so far come from black performers. I’ve narrowed it down to two: Jordan Peele (formerly of MadTV) and a mostly unknown performer on YouTube called Alphacat.
I like both of them for their Obama-esque mannerisms and vocal inflections. Also, both performers are good at tweaking Obama on his smart-guy “coolness”—or what may be perceived by some as arrogance. But I can’t decide which actor has the edge. You can check out some of their work below and let me know what you think.
However, I must add this warning: This is not Christian comedy! So if you might feel a bit uncomfortable with crass humor and a dab of profanity (mainly in the Jordan Peele video), please don’t watch. And please forgive me in advance. 🙂
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Alphacat’s Obama After the Debate
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Jordan Peele’s Obama Slams Nancy Reagan—Again
I won’t embed this one on the blog, but you can watch it by going here.
Reconciliation Blog 
My husband and I watched this and laughed. Then I went to your articles page and read the lead in to “Why Pat Boone Went Bad.”
Then we went to Amazon and read reviews of Pat Boone in a Metal Mood: No More Mr. Nice Guy. More laughing.
Thank you for the laughs.
I agree with your assessment re: Armisen’s quality in impersonating Obama. So much so, that once the election had happened I asked my wife ‘what’s SNL going to do now, they need to find someone to play Obama?’ She insisted they already had someone, but also couldn’t think of who.
Given the amount of time that was available to make that role memorable, it’s fairly telling that I couldn’t even remember it had been done, and she couldn’t remember who had done it.
http://www.gonzogeek.com
1. Alphacat had the edge, IMO.
2. I think satirizing an African American of such high stature is new territory, and that may be why SNL hasn’t gone deeper into making fun of Obama for fear of looking racist. That might not explain everything, but I do think that comes into play.
Jordan’s Obama was spot on in terms of mannerism and delivery and quite hilarious! Thanks for ending my week rolling on the floor! Hey, our program is scheduled for January 18th next year – if you’re out in CA would love to have you stop by and participate!
I really wanted to see how Maya Rudolph would handle Obama, as Lorne Michaels tried to coax her back. She’s willing to take characters in absurd directions that work well — think of Time Travelling Scott Joplin. I happily settled, though, for her recent cameo as Michelle Obama.
I’ve enjoyed almost everything Fred Armisen does, but he’s never seemed comfortable playing Obama.
Both Jordan Peele and Alphacat have Obama’s voice down rather well. Peele made me laugh more, but either man would thrive with well-writen material.
Well-written material, thank you very much.
Julana – The Pat Boone article … Wow! That’s a blast from the past. Loved working on that one. Thanks for reading it.
Goneshiny – Nice hearing from you. Thanks for chiming in.
Judy – Perhaps SNL is afraid of appearing racist, though they never seem to hesitate dressing up Keenan Thompson in women’s clothes. I just don’t think they have a clue about how to do edgy “black humor.” MadTV was always better at that, I believe. I don’t know what the cultural composition of the SNL writing team is, but my hunch is it lacks racial diversity.
Patrick – I don’t have any plans to be in LA in January, though I’d love to be. Would be great to hit a jazz club with you again sometime.
Doug – I go back and forth between Alphacat and Steele. Steele is just laugh-out-loud funny, but it feels like Alphacat might do really well at pulling off longer, more nuanced skits.
Thanks, everyone, for your comments. Any other votes?
Armisen is very funny – but you’re right – off target w/Obama.
Then again, Fey gets an easy jump start as she looks so much like Palin.
MAD TV has always had an edge with the minority community tho. I think they followed in the vain of Living Color.
Excellent points. I totally agree and definitely hope that the next four years brings some more diversity to the writers, actors, and management of our media outlets (particularly the funny ones since that’s what I like to watch, but the rest too)
“Alpha Cat is the Best OBAMA” impersonator SNL needs to get Alpha Cat as OBAMA.
Let me say it again “Alphacat is Barack OBama”
“Alphacat is Barack OBama”
“Alphacat is Barack OBama”
“Alphacat is Barack OBama”
“Alphacat is Barack OBama”
“Alphacat is Barack OBama”
“Alphacat is Barack OBama”
SNL get on it!
Alpha Cat,
I hope they’re listening, my man!
Ed G.
You guys are all staying up way too late. Oh wait, you don’t have to do that with a DVR. MMmm…Do you think the kids would miss SpongeBob if I replaced with with SNL? On second thought that might not be such a good idea.
I agree that Alphacat has the best impersonation. The other chap you mentioned was pretty good too. Both were funny. But note that they were poking fun at other folk and not the President Elect.
Hopefully SNL will be equal opportunity lampooners and we can all share some good natured laughs.
pew
pew,
Thanks for your observation, but I’d like to suggest that these two “Obamas,” while poking fun at others, were indeed making fun of the President-elect as well. I think as we eavesdrop on Obama’s interior monologue in the Alphacat piece or witness Obama’s repeated promises to apologize for his careless jokes in the Steele skit (“We’ll send her a cookie basket”), we see the actors mocking Obama’s perceived snobbishness, his carefully crafted public image, and the popular notion that he’s never allowed to say what he really thinks because, if he did, he might be viewed as an “Angry Black Man.”
I do suspect it’s difficult to take the broad swipes at Obama that we’ve seen taken at Bush, Clinton, and others, since Obama’s persona is frankly a lot cooler and smoother—plus, he hasn’t even been sworn in yet. But I’m sure the comics and late-night shows will pinpoint his weaknesses and foibles in due time.
This is so wild…i found out about Alphacat from the blog of my “nemesis” in regards to blogging & commenting on the Chicago neighborhood of Uptown. I was so impressed by Aphacat (the TI parody and the post debate video) that I wanted to find out more, so i did a google search.
So i wind up at this blog — a man who many people i know are connected with: Arloa Sutter, Chris Brooks (the CCDA / Chicago Urban ministry community).
Anyway — back to the subject…
I thought Fred Armisen’s was also just flat. And MadTV had Keegan Michael Key, who I also thought was off a bit too. When did Jordan leave MadTV? i now it will be cancelled in May, but what a time to be off? He would have been MadTV’s answer to Tina Fey — people would go to MadTV & then switch to see Tina, and the media would be talking about it!
Jordan does indeed nail the voice & mannerisms…but if he’s relying on the raunchy…i’ll have to take off some points for that.
Alphacat has the voice and mannerisms i think equal to Jordan Peele, and i saw his minute on vote4real.com and it’s good stuff. He can do it without being raunchy or too mean. That’s the best kind of parody for me.
i was afraid that a good parody couldn’t be done, because it seemed like there wasn’t much to make fun of (as seen in the current SNL/MadTV impersonations). But it can indeed be done.
Another runner up would also be from MadTV — Phil LaMarr. He has done all kinds of characters. I could imagine him doing a straight Pres. Obama who plays off of really crazy personalities (like Phil often did with Nicole Sullivan & other comedians). I would love to see what he could do.
Seriously — is there way to communicate to SNL — PICK UP ALPHACAT for the cast?!?!!! Please post the contact info!
[…] one for Just Meee, who, as I said earlier, suggested I lighten up. Back in November, I did a post about the need for a new Barack Obama impersonator on Saturday Night Live. Well, in case you […]
Alphacat owns this character, hands down! How do we get in contact with Saturday Night Live? If anyone knows, e-mail me!
-October131990@yahoo.com
also have done an obama impersonation
http://www.break.com/usercontent/2009/7/crazy-obama-impersonation-824783.html
let me know what u think?