When Saturday Night Live woke from its strike coma Saturday night, the first question viewers had for it was, Where the hell are you going to find a black guy to play Barack Obama. Always obliging, SNL answered in the cold open: Who needs a black guy when you've got a Latino and a bucket of face paint?
Back before the WGA strike ripped primary season from Lorne Michaels' bosom, rumors circulated in New York's comedy scene that the SNL producer was auditioning black performers with Obama in mind. But on Sept. 29, the season premiered with only two black cast members -- for those keeping score at home, that's one more than it began 11 of its 33 seasons with and two more than in five seasons. Michaels told the New York Post last week that those auditions were still ongoing. But instead of adding a black cast member during the strike break, the show lost one. Maya Rudolph did not return, leaving Keenan Thompson in the role of token black cast member. (Thompson is also the show's token fat cast member, making him an unlikely Obama.)
Apparently unable to find one black comedian able to do an impression of the frontrunner for Most Important Black Person of the 21st Century, Michaels turned to cast member Fred Armisen, who is of Japanese and Venezuelan descent. If you've seen Billy Crystal doing Sammy Davis Jr. on the show in the '80s, it was like that but less funny.
Screwing black folks is an SNL tradition, from putting Garret Morris in drag, to pissing off Eddie Murphy, to letting Chris Rock ride the bench. Tracy Morgan coined the phrase "the other black guy" -- referring to himself and his recurring character, "the guy who smiles real big at the goodnights" -- in 1997. In his 23rd episode.
Compare that to the experience of Casey Wilson, a 27-year old featured player who appeared in most of the show's sketches in her SNL debut last night. Morgan happens to be white, but the more likely reason she logged more screen time than several cast members (Thompson, in his fifth year with the show, had small parts in three sketches) is her gender. Host Tina Fey is the most influential woman in comedy today, and was vocal about wanting to bring a stronger female voice to SNL during her time there as head writer. Last night's episode included sketches about PMS, Sex and the City clones and a game show titled "What's that Bitch Talking About?"
But in trying to play to Fey's strengths, Michaels and the writing staff also ground salt into the wound they opened when they put Armisen in black-face. Black people weren't just absent from last night's episode -- they were actively picked on. In "What's That Bitch Talking About?" Thompson's only job was to deliver the show's titular catch phrase in a stereotypically black and sassy way. The message: Black men have no idea what crazy white bitches are talking about, and they're not afraid to say so. Minutes later, Fey made her inevitable return to the "Weekend Update" desk to deliver a pro-Hillary Clinton monologue that was more angry than funny. After scolding America for souring on Clinton because she's perceived as a bitch, Fey informed the audience that "bitches get stuff done," then ended the segment by shouting "bitch is the new black!"
Perhaps. But if bitch really is the new black does that mean we can look forward to the day when a talented, under-appreciated female comic sits at the "Update" desk, looks into the camera and declares herself "The other white chick"?
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SNL is a COMEDY show? Wow, they hide it well.
Where is Dave Chappelle when you need him? I wish he would come back to TV to do at least one special.
"BLACK FACE" AS A MEANS TO AN END
The entertainment industry has a history with Black and Brown people that has more to do with race-based economic justice than with racial bias in its programming.
The use of "black-face" was never intended to be funny. It was designed to tell stories with black characters before integration of black actors into the industry so as to avoid employing or paying any actual black people.
That was the shame and offense then; and it is the shame and offense now.
It's our economy, stupid...all over again.
After SNL lost Chevy Chase, Belushi, and Akyroyd to Hollywood, Eddie Murphy single-handedly saved the show.
But I guess when they couldn't keep him on the plantation, they figured black talents were harder to control, so why sponsor their explosive growth. Note that Lorne Michaels now is the producer of the movies that he Will Ferrell, the Catholic Girl character and others who get to jump to Hollywood make. I guess he only dreams about what his net worth would be if he had this policy in place for "Beverly Hills Cop" or "Animal House".
To test this hypothesis, just look the careers, content, and gross box office receipts spawned by The Wayan Brothers 1990s run of "In Living Color". It launched the Hollywood careers of Jim Carrey (white), four Wayan Brothers (black), Tommy Davidson (black), and many more writers and producers of all races who gave us among other films the entire "Scary Movie" franchise.
SNL has been on air 3X as many years and hasn't produced as many African-American box-office stars. If they wanted to they could have. But it is all about the money and SNL is clearly "FOR THEM, BY THEM" as far as anyone who is not a white male or white female is concerned.
That having been said, intellectual honesty forces me to disclose here that the one political impression I have enjoyed the most since 1975 without even a close 2nd is Hammonds doing Jesse Jackson anytime anywhere. He is a genius and no Black person could have done Jesse any funnier, in fact, it is possible that no Black person would have had the courage at the time to go there and risk the irreverence to capture the satire of "Green eggs and ham".
But that doesn't dilute my main point about "black face" in any way, because Jesse Jackson was never going to be a regular feature on the show like we know Obama will be at least during this campaign if not for the next eight years, God willing.
SNL
Barry O'Bama is IRISH.
Obama isnt a black guy, he's multiracial. He is as white as he is black. Having another mixxed race guy play him is just fine and offends no one. Im a mixxed race guy that thought that the actor they had playing him 'looked' great. I also loved Billy Chrystal doing Fernando LLamas and Sammy Davis. These sketches are meant to be funny, they are not racially correct morality tales. Shakespeare had men playing women, so what, its called acting.
While I thought the sketch was great (even though I support Obama) I did think the guy playing him was the least funny thing about the sketch. Chalk it up to the actor playing him just needing a little more time to get Obama's mannerisms and speech patterns down.
Interesting...Obama isn't black. I suspect that you haven't asked Obama that, have you? Using your logic, no one is black because most people in this country, be they white or black, have some mixture of blood in them.
Then again, using the same logic, no one is white either for the very same reason.
Peoples of color didn't create such systems of categorization, but they have had to suffer for them for hundreds, if not thousands, of years...and now a clearly black man, isn't black.
Whatever. If that sort of revisionist nonsense works for you.
1DarkCelt,
When I look at Obama, I see a black guy. The FACT is that Black is dominant and it would never matter if he has 80% Chinese in him.
People like you are so damn annoying! You have a complex! Get over it and learn to love yourself!
"I also loved Billy Chrystal doing Fernando LLamas and Sammy Davis. These sketches are meant to be funny, they are not racially correct morality tales. Shakespeare had men playing women, so what, its called acting."
Wrong, wrong, wrong....the entertainment industry has a history with Black and Brown people that has more to do with race-based economic justice than with racial bias in its programming.
The use of "black-face" was never intended to be funny. It was designed to tell stories with black characters before integration of black actors into the industry so as to avoid employing or paying any actual black people.
That was the shame and offense then; and it is the shame and offense now.
>Obama isnt a black guy, he's multiracial.
No, doesn't work that way: read his book Dreams From My Father, and see the way in he took and takes his family's flirtations with neutrality as ultimately a failure to address racism directly. He was, and is, black. Similarly, look at what might be the most famous black/white biracial man in modern history, Bob Marley, whose in spite of his general worldwide appeal as an artist/lyricist was also the world's greatest booster/prophet for Rastafarianism. In either case, you see a man holding to a very unambiguous "racial" identity in his life, though astride the world and seeming to hail prophetically a futuristic admixture of cultures - a kind of broadcasting-narrowcasting dichotomy which superannuates DuBois' "color line"...
What is a person who is Chineese and Portugeese? Obama is as much white as he is black. Get over it.
BTW why aren't there Russians...or Asians...or Australians....or British people...or Tiwaneese...or Cambodian...or Middle Eastern...or OTHER ethnicities on SNL? Seems sort of racist if you ask me.
This is the funniest thing on here in a while. Oh noooo Daniel! Someone picked on your candidate! Hurry and try to discredit the source by any means possible!
Could you be more obvious? Besides, it was a joke more about slanted CNN coverage. And if you think CNN is unbiased in this race, you are definitely an Obamaniac.
Aggreed! Wow, SNL and John Stewart make jokes, and all of a sudden it's outrageous. I must have missed the outrage, when SNL did the Halloween sketch where everyone confused Hillary's costume as being a witch (Hey, wasn't that Barak Obama in that sketch?). It's totally ridiculous.
You mean, Lorne Michaels isn't in fact the racist dick we (say, people who watched SNL as far back as the 70's) thought he was?
What most people don't understand, good comedians do their best work when they are allowed to be creative, adlib, feel, internalize, and visualize the jokes and skits.
They have their own and unigue brand of humor. When a writer tell them to do exactly word for word, line for line as they wrote it. Well you get my point.
Humor comes from experiences and things the comedians have seen, they expose things about themselves. Writers can't do that for them.
It is my belief some black comedians read the material and can't recognize or internalize the writer's brand of comedy.
SNL has not been funny for years. its not deep enough FOR ME.
It is my belief some black comedians read the material and can't recognize or internalize the writer's brand of comedy
And so the same can be said about whites? Race has nothing to do with it. It's about the individuals experience. So, what is your point?
Did you ever consider that perhaps some of these actors do not get the creative license that you are talking about?
It's like when a black actor goes in to read for a part, and the director says, "Good, but do it again, and this time, be more black" or "less black" for that matter.
Fred Armisen did an amazing job. He has the ability to dissolve into character more so than almost any entertainer I can name. And his Gene Simmons is hilarious!
He furrowed his brow.
First question I have is aren't most of the people on SNL basically graduates from the Second City or other Comedy Club circuits? I am sure a person would have to audition and have talent for the job? Also, would it not have been racist if they had combed the city, advertising for a 'black guy' to make fun of Obama? These aren't documentaries that they do. And in all honesty, do you think that Lorne Michaels is going to pay the BIG bucks to get Eddie Murphy, the Rock, Chris Rock or any MAJOR Actor to fill in once a week to make fun of Obama? They would probably laugh in his face. By the way, Hillary's ringer doesn't do her any favors. But sometimes they get lucky, I remember when John Goodman played an almost mirror image of the infamous Linda Tripp and didn't he also play Janet Reno? John Belusi played and insane Samari guy and Steve Martin and Dan Ackroyd played the 'wild n crazy' foreigh bar flies. They are comedians and character actors people. I mean guys....how serious do you take a show that deals in satire? They are supposed to make fun of politians, newspeople and celebrities and whoever & whatever else they can get away with.
The really sad results of moral 'outrage' to the so-called racist allegations of an obviously benign situation like this IMHO just lessens the recognition to actual racial prejudices and injustices in real life serious situations.
SNL is an actual workplace, you know - as is NBC. And the show is broadcast from fucking New York City, what's worse. The overall problem is that it's incredibly un-diverse (much less of a problem with Mad TV), and is thus that much less funny. The way they stretched Maya Rudolph, for instance, who would gamely but in a futile way channel the her black "side", was pretty lame.
Isn't Obama biracial?
The some people, particularly in the black community, seems to want Obama to downplay or deny his mixed race heritage all together. Maybe some are afraid if Obama embraced his Euro-ancestry then he would somehow not be considered the first "real" African-American President.
Even if Obama "embraced his euro-ancestry" His mother is white and thats a fact no one can change. But he'd still be stopped while driving black. He'd be passed up by cab drivers, etc etc.
So what? That has nothing to do with embracing and loving your "whole" self.
Would you give up on your goals or aspirations because some racists tells you that yor are inferior? I should hope not.
The amazing thing about the opening sketch is that the person that was fawning over the (hopelessly unfunny Barack) was supposed to be Campbell Brown the reporter at the real debate. In real life Ms. Brown is married to Dan Senor, a former apologist for the Bush administration in Iraq. The portrayal of her as an Obama fan, was not only unfunny, but totally inaccurate.
So, am I right here? You're going off on SNL not hiring enough black people -- historically true -- because they had the nerve to write a piece that intimated that the media are in the tank for Obama? Geez.
You know the real problem with SNL? It's not funny anymore. Comedy has to serve no other purpose but itself. Sure, it's nice to be representative, or politically "edgy". But all that is secondary.
They never managed to get over Will Ferrell leaving the show. A white dude, yes. But funny.
Why must people constantly look for racism where it doesn't exist?
Racism is a "generational" problem, and as long as people pass along their hateful, racist views (whether intentional or not) it will remain a constant.
Yes, it still exists. But not at SNL! And by the way, "hateful, racist views" are not just held by whites.
We don't have to look for it. But racism is constant.
But more constant are our white friends here, who predictably misrepresent the definition; as well as who project unto non-whites in American society the 'power' to discriminate in a damning and systematic manner against them [whites].
Some believe that 'racism' is just some beneigned word to deflect criticism by some non-whites towards them, and otherwise has no real substantive meaning in its proper context, which is how historically it has rooted American society into two separate and unequal parts.
And, like the path of this thread, the conversation devolves out of hand, when some can't comprehend or acknowledge the reality of race or racism, long enough to maturely have a discussion about a clear POV advanced by Holloway of SNL. Even when presented with the facts, some have no honesty, only denial---which basically explains why discussions on race relations goes around and around in circles.
Some can't accept that race has put some in one spot and some others in another spot, they would rather believe that it doesn't exist and that it is just being spun for political reasons or even still it---when having no other argument---to discuss such things will make them worse.
So is sexism.
Just because you don't see it, doesn't mean it's not there.
yeah, just like sexism... bu
Posted February 25, 2008 | 02:45 PM (EST)