Last Saturday, Saturday Night Live’s Fred Armisen played presidential hopeful Senator Barack Obama in the opening skit, in a faux CNN debate against Hillary Clinton, parodying the apparent favorable and fawning coverage by the press of Obama. Armisen’s racial background is partially white/caucasian and Japanese, and now there are questions as to whether or not Armisen is ‘black enough’ to portray Barack Obama, as noted in this Washington Post article, “Barack ‘Fauxbama’ ‘black enough’ on ‘SNL’?“:
“Nobody much cared about Armisen’s racial background (he is of white and Asian heritage) when he played Prince and Steve Jobs in previous seasons of the NBC show… But in 2008, Obama isn’t just any politician or celebrity. Which is why Armisen’s DNA became something of an issue when he became “Fauxbama” in the first “SNL” show back since the writers’ strike ended. Maureen Ryan of the Chicago Tribune put the question bluntly: “Call me crazy, but shouldn’t ‘Saturday Night Live’s’ fictional Sen. Barack Obama be played by an African American?” Ryan went on to conclude: “I find ‘SNL’s’ choice inexplicable. Obama’s candidacy gives us solid proof of the progress that African Americans have made in this country. I guess ‘SNL’ still has further to go on that front.”…. This season, “SNL” has only one black cast member, Kenan Thompson, who bears little resemblance to the tall, lanky senator. A biracial “SNL” veteran, Maya Rudolph, has not returned to the show since the strike began Nov. 5….Michaels said that the show auditioned “four to five” actors for the Obama role, including Thompson. And the winner, he says, was based on merit. “When it came down to it, I went with the person with the cleanest comedy ‘take’ on” Obama, [SNL producer Lorne] Michaels said. Michaels said he liked how Armisen caught the tilt of Obama’s head, the rhythm of his speaking style, “the essence” of his look. “It’s not about race,” Michaels insisted via phone. “It’s about getting a take on Obama, where it serves the comedy and the writing.”
I have to agree with Lorne Michaels – Kenan Thompson would have been an awful actor to parody Obama. Personally, I didn’t think that Armisen did a great impression of Obama, but he made the point. I think the best ever presidential candidate impression on Saturday Night Live that I recall had to have been Dana Carvey’s impression of Ross Perot, though I do hear that Chevy Chase’s impression of President Gerald Ford was quite funny in its day.
This just in – tonight, Saturday Night Live did another parody of the debates, making fun of Ohio’s debate between Obama and Clinton. At the end of the “mock” debate, the “editorial response” was delivered by the real Hillary Clinton:
along side with Amy Poehler, still in character as Hillary. I think Poehler does a much better job parodying Clinton than Armisen of Obama.
I’m hoping one day, Saturday Night Live will have an Asian-American actor or actress in its cast, let alone one that parodies a viable Asian-American presidential candidate!
