US President Barack Obama has been linked to the current controversial issues of today. From the ISIS kidnapping issue of James Foley to the border crisis, Obama has been the subject of many television talk shows for his response or initiative in such topics. As such, it is expected that "Saturday Night Live," the longest-running sketch comedy and variety show, would be doing a political satire skit about Obama, as it has long traditionally done with other US presidents.
The updated oral history "Live From New York" excerpt published on The Hollywood Reporter, the people behind the show shared their thoughts about working on political impressions, specifically of Obama.
Jay Pharaoh, who has impersonated Obama, received critical acclaim for his impressive portrayal of the former Illinois senator. The Wall Street Journal wrote, "There seemed to be a playful spark in Pharoah's portrayal of the president." Slate said in a piece, "He is unquestionably a gifted impressionist."
Pharaoh said that the most scariest part was to actually portray Obama in front of the real one. He was quoted as saying, "I did an event at Harvey Weinstein's house - very nice; I'd never been there. I was trying to take my makeup off because I was [Obama] at this event, and [Obama] stood right there watching me do it. He was laughing; it was so petrifying."
Although it can be unnerving to do a skit impersonating the president and blow up his eccentricities, there are other countries who do not enjoy this kind of freedom of speech. According to 2011 article by Joshua Keating for Foreign Policy blog, pre-revolutionary Egypt could send someone to jail for insulting Hosni Mubarak. In Zimbabwe, sending photos of the president's mansion via email is considered a criminal offense.
On the other hand, Keating recalls an incident involving journalist Mark Halperin, who had been handed out an indefinite suspension from his MSNBC commentator gig for calling Obama a "kind of a dick" on live television, of which Greg Sargent on his Washington Post column deemed the punishment as "overly excessive." On the other hand, an average joe who does say a few things in passionate speech that might sound like a threat against Obama, the right evidence might force the government to file a class D felony charge against that person under the United States Code by the Secret Service.
This might be why "SNL" writer and producer James Downey, along with the actors/impersonators of Obama, rate a comedy project about the current US president difficult to do. Downey said, "It's like being a rock climber looking up at a thousand-foot-high face of solid obsidian, polished and oiled. There's not a single thing to grab onto - certainly not a flaw or hook that you can caricature. [Al] Gore had these 'handles,' so did Bush, and Sarah Palin, and even Hillary had them. But with Obama, it was the phenomenon - less about him and more about the effect he had on other people and the way he changed their behavior. So that's the way I wrote him."
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