No disrespect, but come on man. As Chuck said, you got to give it up...
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I saw this last week and was amazed--it's actually a pretty accurate summary of Obama's speech. Iman Crosson is a hell of an Obama impersonator, all the way down to the stutters and that stern, brow-furrowing stare--and his videos are always funny. Fred Armisen really needs to go sit down somewhere.
While I'm no Armisen fan, I have to admit the stuff last week with "The Rock Obama" was very good--the best Obama skit I've seen so far.
And while this Obama impression you've posted may be technically stronger than Armisen's, that doesn't automatically make the material funny. Nobody has found an Obama imitator anywhere near as good as Tina's Palin--either technically or humor-wise.
"Nobody has found an Obama imitator anywhere near as good as Tina's Palin--either technically or humor-wise."
True. I didn't like "The Rock Obama." But, again. That's just taste.
@TNC,
I take it you don't like. Sorry if I'm being tone deaf.
Personally, I cracked up. Couldn't help it.
No, I loved it! You're talking about the video above? "You got to give it up," means give the guy his props.
SNL is a bubble world a la Bush-- I'm sure Lorne Michaels is convinced Armisen is the best of all time, and that the show is funnier than ever, that etc.
I love this guy, his Obama impersonations are consistently funny.
Yeah, not as hilarious as Tina Fey, but then Sarah Palin is a ridiculous person, so there is more material to work with there.
I thought "The Rock Obama" was vaguely entertaining, but mostly for how well The Rock was able to pull off Armisen's impersonation, rather than the quality of the writing (which was pretty low, even given current standards).
I thought "The Rock Obama" was the best so far, but not because of the writing or Fred Armisen. I just thought the concept of Rahmbo wishing Obama would get angry and then having The Rock play him - complete with hair and ears - was funny.
What I really liked about it was that The Rock has charisma, just like Barack, and that skit captured it. Fred Armisen's impressions are almost fascinatingly charisma-less.
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.
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.
Christopher B. Duncan (from the Jamie Foxx Show) did a pretty good impersonation of Obama on Jay Leno recently.
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.
The Rock was much better than Armisen (who stinks). I just like Dwayne Johnson, though.
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.
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
This is the best Obama imitation out (same guy has 3 others, click on his username):
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gikgEc2Fb5o
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...
@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??!?!? ;-)
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-grandfather.jpg
Armisen:
http://img.wonkette.com/assets/resources/2008/02/76853208-thumb.jpg
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?
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).
I always thought Obama looked kinda like Opie. With the ears and the lifted chin and the furrowed brow and all.
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.
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.
I can't think of any other white comedians doing black impressions besides him though.
Tracy Ullman.
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.
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? ;-)
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.
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.
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.
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.
Yeah Hammond, sorry. And yeah, I dunno Paul. Measured against the rest of the regular SNL cast, Hammond's impressions always stand out.
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.