Saturday Night Live gives job of playing Barack Obama to actual black man

Saturday Night Live gives job of playing Barack Obama to actual black man

Somehow we overlooked this in our morning report on Jason Sudeikis remaining with Saturday Night Live, but Lorne Michaels made arguably a far more important fake-political announcement: After four years of enduring barbs for having Fred Armisen impersonate Barack Obama, the job has finally been handed to Jay Pharoah, an actual black man. "I just thought it might be time to shake it up," Michaels told the New York Times, two years after he first hired Jay Pharoah and everyone on the Internet pointed out that he did a solid Obama, and that maybe it would be worth handing it over, considering Armisen's impression primarily consists of pausing a lot, and that Pharoah has little else to do whenever Denzel Washington, Jay-Z, or Will Smith can't be awkwardly wedged into a sketch. Anyway, this transition of fake-power will take place in the fall, with Armisen—whom Michaels calls "the backbone of the show now"—now reduced to starring in every other sketch.

 
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