The 1980s were some weird, vexing years for The Godfather Of Soul. Then in his 50s, music legend James Brown saw his career overshadowed by a generation of hip-hop and R&B performers whose music he had profoundly influenced. When Brown was in the public eye back then, it was usually for legal, marital, and substance abuse problems rather than for his music. “Free James Brown” became a popular T-shirt slogan, and Brown’s own public behavior became increasingly erratic and bizarre. Now, in a new sketch filmed for Buh, a subsidiary of the comedy network Jash, Jordan Peele meticulously recreates what is either the apex or the nadir of Brown’s Reagan-era antics. In 1987, Brown was interviewed, live via satellite, by psychologist Dr. Sonya Friedman for a then-new CNN show called Sonya Live In L.A. He was ostensibly there to promote his South American tour, but his legal issues were dominating the headlines. Friedman gamely tried to ask him about these and other serious matters, but a distracted Brown seemed more intent on shouting out the titles of his own hit songs (including “Living In America” and “Sex Machine”) and making random references to CNN founder Ted Turner. There is little that Peele has to do with this material to turn it into comedy gold. He simply recreates the TV magic that Brown made 29 years ago.