Is it Time for SNL to Hire a New Obama Impersonator?
EmailSaturday Night Live’s Fred Armisen has taken a lot of guff for his Barack Obama impersonation.
Critics have said it’s not accurate or funny. Even President-elect Obama disparaged it in an interview, saying "compared to Tina Fey and what she’s doing with Gov. Palin, my imitator isn’t doing as great of a job."
Following the lead of Andrew Sullivan, Anovelista, and other bloggers, my former colleague Ta-nehisi Coates weighs in in favor of Obama impersonateor Iman Crosson, writing that "you don’t have to be black to do a good impersonation of a black dude. I like Darrell Hammond’s Jesse Jackson a lot more than Keenan Thompson’s Al Sharpton–but you do have to be good. Andrew nominated this cat (Iman Crosson) awhile back."
Some other takes include this one, which purports to be a stoned Obama at Occidental College:
J.A. the Comedian:
Christopher B. Duncan:
Marlin Hill:
This atrocious local Ford dealer commercial:
Peter Peterkin:
Kyle Grooms:
and, from Japan, Nozomu Sato:
Who gets your vote?
-jpt
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SNL nails him pretty good. They could use a few more “uh….err….um….err…uh” in their lines of his. Then it would be a perfect match.
Posted by: Greg | November 25, 2008, 9:05 pm 9:05 pm
Who cares????
Posted by: bob | November 25, 2008, 9:14 pm 9:14 pm
Marlin Hill it is!
Posted by: fat cat | November 25, 2008, 9:15 pm 9:15 pm
SNLs guy is just fine. He’s a caricature and to me thats funnier than an impersonator.
Posted by: Jim Shellhorn | November 25, 2008, 9:18 pm 9:18 pm
He he he do a pretty dood jjjjob I tinnnnk
Posted by: tyrone | November 25, 2008, 9:24 pm 9:24 pm
Chevy Chase was Gerald Ford???? Its about the caricature. I think there are other priorities than SNL impersonations….
Posted by: JP | November 25, 2008, 9:24 pm 9:24 pm
SNL has an Obama impersonator?
Posted by: Bridget | November 25, 2008, 9:29 pm 9:29 pm
He could use a better imitator on SNL.
I’ll bet that if SNL gets a better imitator and has him say some off the wall stuff, most of America will think Obama actually said it. My example is guess who said “I can see Russia from my house”.
Posted by: Buyer's Remorse | November 25, 2008, 9:30 pm 9:30 pm
I agree with Greg he does a good job. Face it he isn’t supposed to be an exact copy, he is supposed to humorous and mocking at the same time. I think too many people get their panties in a wad because they don’t anyone poking fun at their golden child. Besides he is our first Affirmative Action president, unqualified for the job but elected because of his color, and he will be mocked and ridiculed plenty in a couple years when people realize he isn’t as good and they thought. Wait until they impersonate him then nobody will say a word about how insulting it may be, and you will never hear them admit they are as smitten over him then as they are now.
Posted by: Bored at work | November 25, 2008, 9:30 pm 9:30 pm
Christopher B. Duncan is the man!
Posted by: Ed | November 25, 2008, 9:32 pm 9:32 pm
Definitely Marlin Hill. and maybe Iman Crosson too. But MH has the best impersonation without having to do jokes.
Posted by: Question | November 25, 2008, 9:33 pm 9:33 pm
Yes, it’s definitely time that SNL hire a new cast member to impersonate Obama. Fred Armisen stinks at the job, and I’m not looking forward to watching him for the next 4 years. There are much more effective comics out there who would do a much better job.
Posted by: WATCH US EXPLODE! | November 25, 2008, 9:44 pm 9:44 pm
Sanjaya could probably use the work.
Posted by: Bridget | November 25, 2008, 9:55 pm 9:55 pm
The outrage in the black community over the “white dude” impersonating Obama is in itself very offensive. Since Obama is not black, but half white and half black, then this white dude could be representing the white part of Obama. Obama is very easy to impersonate and they should have plenty of good material for the next four years.
Posted by: RJ | November 25, 2008, 9:57 pm 9:57 pm
they need the rock to come do it
and they could even make the “transition” funny
like the David Banner version of Fred Armistead becomes the Rock’s version once elected…
transition seems to me a lot of change.
Posted by: dl | November 25, 2008, 10:15 pm 10:15 pm
Does SNL need a new Obama impersonator?
Slow news day?????????
Gawd, their has to be something more
important than this, dude, for ABC to report on.
Posted by: Mike | November 25, 2008, 10:16 pm 10:16 pm
Obama is a media created myth so who cares how SNL portrays him?
Obama is the mickey mouse of 2008! He will be be whoever you want him to be!
Except, he will never be authentic! :(
Posted by: aware2u | November 25, 2008, 10:16 pm 10:16 pm
you have to say Christopher Duncan could show fred a lesson or two.
Posted by: dl | November 25, 2008, 10:17 pm 10:17 pm
This clip is old… the SNL impersonation has improved somewhat in the last 10 months.
Posted by: DaveS | November 25, 2008, 10:17 pm 10:17 pm
SNL hasn’t been funny since the first few seasons, so I’ll sit this vote out. MadTV was hilarious for a while. Now it sucks too these past 3 years. Does anyone know anything worthwhile on late Sat. night TV??
Posted by: buzzie | November 25, 2008, 10:18 pm 10:18 pm
His impersonations are totally unfunny and very unlike Obama. Obama drops the g’s at the end of most of his “ing”s just like Palin, yet his impersonator never does that. Before the election, I just chalked it up to the fact that SNL producers are democrats and didn’t want to make Obama look ridiculous before the election. They focused all their energy on making McCain and Palin look ridiculous (I admit, that wasn’t hard to do) and pretty much left Obama alone.
Posted by: genlin | November 25, 2008, 10:19 pm 10:19 pm
Marlin Hill, Marlin Hill, Marlin Hill! He’s the Brother, uhhh .. The Man! He’s funny, I heard him on the day he was on WKLH in Milwaukee! SNL better look at him, because their days may be numbered! They need a new blood over there! They need to reflect everyone in the nation, not just living in NYC, much like … uhh … Mr. Obama’s new cabinet … I hope! Peace!!
Posted by: Joe | November 25, 2008, 10:27 pm 10:27 pm
Armisen isn’t doing a very good job imitating Obama and overall he isn’t very funny in any of the other skits he’s been in anyway.
SNL should hire Tim Meadows back. He looks like Obama and he’s always been good for a laugh. He’s also about the same age as Obama.
Lorne Michaels should at least talk it over with Tim. If he can get Tina Fey back he can get Tim back.
Posted by: Majus | November 25, 2008, 10:34 pm 10:34 pm
genlin,
I agree. His immitators are not as funny as he is. It’s the ability to connect. In Palin’s case, her inability to connect gave SNL a good basis for humor. SNL will need to find the disconnector for Obama and thwart Murdoch’s notions of ‘funny’ to make a good Obama carricature. Most of us don’t see the humor in exxagerated ears, studdering or trying to use language and phrases that are not divisive. Life’s too serious right now, so SNL needs to make us laugh about the republican-caused plights we’re experiencing.
Posted by: Common Sense | November 25, 2008, 10:40 pm 10:40 pm
Andrew Sullivan is probably the most annoyingly condenscending UK transplant to ever hit US shores. If he realized that no one really cares about his stilted opinions he would go hide and cry in a sand dune @ Herring Cove.
Posted by: PhillyPaul | November 25, 2008, 10:41 pm 10:41 pm
They need to hire Chris Rock. He could flame Obama.
They’re probably going to loose the guy they have now. He isn’t doing what Tina did for the ratings. It is all about ratings, right ABC?
Posted by: Krissy | November 25, 2008, 10:46 pm 10:46 pm
Marlin Hill no doubt
Posted by: Pakman | November 25, 2008, 10:51 pm 10:51 pm
Marlin has the voice down almost perfectly. But the problem would be the lame writing by the SNL writers.
Posted by: Lord Volvo | November 25, 2008, 10:53 pm 10:53 pm
Let’s face it -the outrage is primarily due to Armisen being white. If they could find a black comedian that could make Obama funny then I say go for it but Obama himself isn’t that amusing. Palin was a riot. Fey’s funniest lines were when she reiterated what Palin said to Couric almost word for word. If Obama was that funny and Armisen nailed it he should stay – SNL has a long history of men impersonating women (anyone remember Janet Reno?) so I don’t see how this is different. And for the person who said Obama is America’s first affirmative action president please, tell me when YOU were at Harvard and Columbia and on Harvard’s Law Review? Affirmative action gives people the opportunity – it is what they make of that opportunity that counts so unless YOU were at the top of YOUR class at the best Ivy League schools and a senator and president-elect I’d say you don’t have much of an argument.
Posted by: allie08 | November 25, 2008, 11:07 pm 11:07 pm
The representations are like caritures. They throw everything out of proportion. That is why Tina Fey nail Palin. She could do the mannerism over the top.
Posted by: James | November 25, 2008, 11:13 pm 11:13 pm
Lets face it, nothing funny about Obama.
Posted by: Ken | November 25, 2008, 11:18 pm 11:18 pm
One case of Affirmative Action deserves another I guess. Sorry Fred.
Posted by: please! | November 25, 2008, 11:47 pm 11:47 pm
Fred does a great job. I can’t beleive Obama complained, he should just be glad everyone forgot the comment he made about 57 states. At least Palin knows how many states there are. The media never would have let her or Hill off that easy.
Posted by: Lacey | November 25, 2008, 11:54 pm 11:54 pm
well, uh, for uh, cry ma knee sakes,,,ifa , uh,huh, we gonna get senssative bout a little “SOFTBALL”,,,,whatsz gonna go down,,,,afta thehoneymoon?
Posted by: johnXdem | November 25, 2008, 11:57 pm 11:57 pm
he is a terrible actor, not just obama
Posted by: shellyinKY | November 26, 2008, 12:07 am 12:07 am
Marlin Hill is good. Fred Armison just is not good portraying Obama and they definitely need someone who does a better job. And as far as Andrew Sullivan, I think he’s great!
Posted by: Diane | November 26, 2008, 12:13 am 12:13 am
Oh, it’s O.K. to do Palin all in good fun. The Chicago thug gets impersonated and he has a problem with it? Get to work Barack you won the election.What are you going to do? Sic the CIA and FBI after the guy? The “President elect” couldn’t even leave a common guy like Joe the Plummer alone without sending dozens of his thugs out to try to destroy him.Boy maybe I better watch out know for his cronies for I have spoken out against the elected annointed ONE!
Posted by: tim | November 26, 2008, 12:15 am 12:15 am
buzzie, you are so right about MadTV. IN the beginning it was side-splitting funny at times but in the past few years it has become as bad as SNL.
I think perhaps that may be because they tend to give one comic more time rather than spread the skits among the cast. Unfortunately they don’t always pick the best.
Posted by: Majus | November 26, 2008, 12:21 am 12:21 am
Lacey: “Fred does a great job. I can’t beleive Obama complained, he should just be glad everyone forgot the comment he made about 57 states. ”
He complained? Please, it was pretty clear that he’s not at all unhappy that they don’t have a good comic skewering him as well as Tina Fey skewered Gov Palin.
And no one has forgotten the 57 state comment, they just looked at it in context and don’t think any reasonable person should care (he stumbled over a reply while jet lagged and mixed up saying ‘I’ve visited 47 of the 50 states’). Sorta like when John McCain got a free pass when he spoke about the Iraq-Afghanistan border or forgot the name of the terrorist group funded by Iran.
Posted by: jhw539 | November 26, 2008, 12:26 am 12:26 am
Tim: “The Chicago thug gets impersonated and he has a problem with it?”
Please watch the second video clip, or even read the quote from Obama. Do you really think he “has a problem” with his impersonator not working him over like Tina Fey did to Gov Palin? Seriously? I know reading comprehension levels are embarrassingly low in some areas of the US, but there’s a video of him chuckling about it – clearly not at all annoyed or threatening – for goodness sake.
Posted by: jhw539 | November 26, 2008, 12:29 am 12:29 am
tim:
P-A-R-A-N-O-I-A
Posted by: R Mutt | November 26, 2008, 12:30 am 12:30 am
Obama responded to the interviewer criticizing Fred Armisen with a compliment for Tina Fey when he said “You know, I’ve gotta say, compared to Tina Fey and what she’s doing with Gov. Palin, my imitator isn’t doing as great of a job”. He didn’t say “my imitator isn’t doing that good of a job” as you quote in your claim above, Jake. And Obama went on to say “…but I’m sure they’ll get me right over time”. He was being gracious. Why do you keep insisting on deliberately misquoting people and generally manipulating your readers? In order to fan the fires of controversy I suppose. Please stick to providing accurate and informative news.
Posted by: martha.s | November 26, 2008, 12:45 am 12:45 am
Marlin Hill, hands down…but I’m still waiting for somebody to impersonate him trying to sound black. He’s hysterically funny when he’s trying to sound black.
Posted by: borednotworking | November 26, 2008, 12:46 am 12:46 am
Christopher B. Duncan hands down. oh and possibly the guy from occidental just cuz i’ve seen him many times before like 15 months ago. even before it got mainstream. But yeah, the obama mannerism, and the baritone, although if it could be softened a bit and sophisticated with a more husky tone, he’s got it hands down. i noticed he’s heavy on the sex jokes, but he’s very versatile in his acts and impersonations. the donald duck thing just loosened me up a bit, and i just kept rolling on the floor laughing. everyone else was just a sore. ONE DOES NOT WAKE UP AND IMPERSONATE OBAMA. ONE HAS TO HAVE TALENT. lol.
Posted by: lupercal | November 26, 2008, 12:53 am 12:53 am
oh yeah. and iman crossman (if that’s his real name) could very well adapt and improve. he would certainly be good at it if he sat down with 60 hrs of tapes. oh and you forgot this gema: obama car ad kia
Posted by: lupercal | November 26, 2008, 1:00 am 1:00 am
YES IT’S TIME FOR A CHANGE! ARMISEN STINKS! He’s good with other characters, but his Obama rendition SUCKS! I’ve got a few potentials…
Posted by: Obama Impersonators To Replace Armisen On SNL | November 26, 2008, 1:01 am 1:01 am
NO WAY! Fred is doing the best job. I like him spoofing Obama!
Tina Fey’s role is easier, because Palin gives her so much material for free!
Posted by: Truth Reigns | November 26, 2008, 3:39 am 3:39 am
Ummm…Name ONE line of dialog that Armisen has flubbed, or that would have been funnier if spoken by someone else. Obama has been written as the straight man in EVERY SNL sketch so far. Lots of the examples you give are “funny” because of the WORDS that Obama says, not because of the performance.
Posted by: Ned | November 26, 2008, 4:08 am 4:08 am
Lacey..
Do you really believe that being raised in Hawaii, one of the last states admitted to the union, that Obama doesn’t know how many United States there are? What he said was, “What are we up to now…uh, 57?” As brilliant as the man is,a Constitutional law professor, he knows about US territories…Guam, Puerto Rico, Somoa, Virgin Islands and the rest I can’t name. Bet he can come close. The media didn’t forget. Nothing to remember. Not everyone was confused by the reference.
Posted by: Vic | November 26, 2008, 5:07 am 5:07 am
I agree with the critics: Armisen’s Obama is quite weak. They should hire someone new, and it sure wouldn’t hurt to diversify the cast a little.
Posted by: Steve Collins | November 26, 2008, 5:45 am 5:45 am
There’s a Honda commercial here in Houston with a guy who’s very good. I wish I could find the video/commercial. Honda Cars of Katy is the dealership I think.
Posted by: Michele | November 26, 2008, 6:26 am 6:26 am
Christopher B. Duncan. YOU ARE HIRED. Wake up SNL fire that nitwit.
Posted by: Omentum | November 26, 2008, 9:04 am 9:04 am
Saturday Night Live hasn’t had a really good Presidential imitator since the late Phil Hartman did impersonations of Reagan and Clinton that were absolutely hilarious.
I don’t much care who SNL casts as Obama since they will be way overly-cautious with the jokes now that he has been deified by the media.
Posted by: OBAMANATION [uh-bom-uh-NEY-shuhn] | November 26, 2008, 12:11 pm 12:11 pm
MARLIN HILL. He nails the voice and rhythm. Fred Armisen on SNL is talented, but his Obama is terrible
Posted by: J BIGGS | November 26, 2008, 12:50 pm 12:50 pm
Iman crosson has this one nailed hands down
noone does him better, not even Barak himself!
Posted by: monica r | November 26, 2008, 1:38 pm 1:38 pm
The First guy, Crossonn, was certainly the best.
Very funny and accurate. He really nailed the speech idiosyncrasies. That is the key to a good impression.
The gestures, the accent or manner of speaking, these are far more important than getting the exact tone of voice exactly correct, although he did a great job of this as well.
Posted by: Howie Felch | November 26, 2008, 3:05 pm 3:05 pm
Definitely Marlin Hill. He’s got it down.
Tim is delusional thinking that Obama is actually upset over this. You obviously didn’t watch the video.
Not to mention that Obama never sent anyone after Joe the Plumber. The media just did their job and investigated the republican plant.
Posted by: McInsane | November 26, 2008, 3:42 pm 3:42 pm
I watched all the impersonations, and Christopher Duncan was clearly the best.
SNL should do an American Idol type cchallenge and let the public pick the best one?
Just a thought
Posted by: C | November 28, 2008, 10:46 am 10:46 am
Christopher B. Duncan does it better than the rest on this page.
Posted by: 9erville | November 30, 2008, 10:00 am 10:00 am