Mixed Reactions to SNL's Return

It was ladies night at SNL last weekend when the show returned after it’s three-month, strike-induced hiatus. Tina Fey, former head writer and cast member, started things off as the first host. From the commentary I’ve been reading post-show, the episode played to exactly the strengths it was expected to with Fey on display. Her goal during her time as head writer was always to promote women being funny.

What was not so funny, and has been getting some less-than-thrilled reactions, was the choice to use Fred Armisen as Obama in the night’s first political sketch. The sketch itself was a pretty good lampoon of the Obama idolization going on these days. Huffington Post blogger Daniel Holloway was not amused by the casting choice:

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.

While I don’t agree with Holloway when he says that black people “were actively picked on” in the episode (to me, the sketch illustrating his point is simply an example of lazy writing—a little too dependent on clichés) he has a good point overall. It’s long overdue for SNL to become as culturally diverse as it’s less intelligent, less watchable younger cousin Mad TV. The show shouldn’t have had such a problem figuring out who can play Obama.

Here’s hoping SNL takes a clue from the presidential race it’s parodying and diversifies. If we can finally vote between a woman and a black man in the democratic primaries, we should certainly have already seen a more multicultural cast of characters on America’s sketch comedy gold standard.