SNL Searching For Someone Who Can Play Obama

SNL Searching For Someone Who Can Play Obama

Like many voters, the producers of "Saturday Night Live" are hoping to find Barack Obama.

The difference is, "SNL" will have its own Obama by Saturday, when the show returns to the air after three months of writers' strike-induced downtime, whereas voters could be waiting much longer.

"Three months ago, we would have approached this with a different kind of thinking," "SNL" executive producer Lorne Michaels told The Post yesterday of the public's Obama love-fest last fall. "Once you settle in with someone, you start to notice things about them that are mildly irritating."

How well an "SNL" cast member is able to correctly identify and portray those "mildly irritating" traits will be part of the decision behind who plays Obama Saturday - and possibly for much longer.

Keenan Thompson - the only black cast member of "SNL" - had been believed to be the favorite for the job, but Michaels says the show has been holding auditions for the part. The only real portrayal of Obama on "SNL" so far was by Obama himself, when he turned up briefly for a sketch last fall.

Popular in the Community

Close

What's Hot