SNL Finds Its Obama, Half-Asses It With the Makeup

For all the hype around the return of Saturday Night Live and the realization that the cast has, since its inception, pretty much been populated by the whitest kids u know (pun intended, like Tina Fey's "Bitch is the new Black" double entendre on Weekend Update), the much ballyhooed Who Will Play Barack Obama dilemma came to a close with a hilarious premise of a sketch, but a not so brilliant portrayal of the Illinois Senator by funnyman Fred Armisen (facial expression, yes; vocal cadence, not so much). I don't particularly care that a black actor didn't play the part; Barack Obama is, after all, half-white, and Armisen is of mixed ethnic heritage. What I found disturbing was that the makeup artists only covered Armisen's face. Not the ears, and certainly not the hands (which got the particulars of Obama's hand gestures wrong, by the way). Not sure if this was supposed to be part of the joke. The Kristen Wiig reaction shot halfway through is priceless, however, as is the idea of the press being "totally in the bag" for Obama. Here's an excerpt:



A few tweaks here and there for Armisen, and he has a winner on his hands (like his Prince impersonation). As for the makeup artists, they would do well to stock up on the bronzer.