Comments on: Better Late Than Never

By: claire

claire — Wed, 04 Feb 2009 18:30:57 +0000

i think we can agree on those things. i thought his first two obama sketches — which were the debate parodies — were good enough. he got the speech pattern and the dead-serious-but-kindly-face. but since then his impression has gotten sketchier and sketchier, and it’s to the point now that any actor could do an equally bad job, so there’s no reason to have armisen do it.

By: brownstocking

brownstocking — Wed, 04 Feb 2009 06:38:34 +0000

Hi, claire:

I read your original piece, and I agree that many critics who bashed Armisen were simplistic. The Obamas are not above satire or parody. Armisen is multiracial, but I haven’t heard/read of him acknowledging his diasporic heritage, so I’m not sure he gets “it.”

My POV is that, just don’t do it (the color thing). You can do him as an impression all you want, no matter your ethnicity. Just 1) don’t put on darker makeup (visceral for me, I admit) and 2) DON’T SUCK.

I’ve watched Armisen do Obama several times, and I’ve been underwhelmed each time.

It’s late, I don’t know if I’m making sense…but thank you for replying and including the link.

By: claire

claire — Wed, 04 Feb 2009 05:34:53 +0000

thanks for the shout out, brownstocking, but actually, when armisen first started playing obama, i was on the side of "it's not EXACTLY blackface." here's why. now, i think he needs to go because he's doing such a poor job of it.