Dana Carvey was really good at that and we talked about that. He hosted and I got to talk to him a little bit about how he approached those things. It's got to be funny. You can be really accurate, and I've done that before, where I've gotten someone and they went, "That's really accurate, but it's low energy and not very funny." Or it's accurate but, you know, the caricature version of him is actually kind of better. Or James Carville, where it's okay, it's a fine impression, but him acting insane is what makes it funny. You know what I mean? Him saying he's raised by eels and stuff. Which is the kind of thing I'm more interested in. I'm more interested in weirder things.... [Carvey] and Jim Downey have a term, "handles." Like a certain person has certain handles. George Bush Sr. had big handles, like [as Dana Carvey, as G.H.W. Bush] "Not gonna do it." It was like, "Oh my gosh this is great. I can figure something out on this guy."update: Jay Pharoah is taking over as Barack Obama! (HT: Watts.) From his pre-SNL years, here's why.
Wednesday, September 12, 2012
SATURDAY WHITE LIVE: The show has added three new cast members, and their Second City alumni status isn't the only thing they have in common. Taran Killam is excited to return, though Romney-portraying Jason Sudeikis may only stick around through January, but if you only read one season-previewing article it should be this lengthy Splitsider interview of show fulcrum Bill Hader, in which he talks about how he approaches impressions:
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On the writing side, I'd like to point out a few UCB people (I've been involving myself with the scene there over the last year) that have made the fold:
ReplyDeleteJosh Patten is joining the Update staff — his twitter feed (@thejoshpatten) is one of the sharpest I've ever read, which it better be, for every time he's punctuated a conversation with, "I'm sorry, I'm just working on this tweet and I think I've... just... about... got it. OK, you were saying?"
Neil Casey is an unsung hero of improv and sketch, and does as much (or more) stuff around here as anyone I can think of, between his involvements with ASSSCAT 3000, Krompf, the hurricane, the Stepfathers, and the Two-Man Movie -- he joins the sketch squad.
Your Saturdays got funnier, America.
I hope they bring back Will Forte to do Paul Ryan.
ReplyDeleteMy take on Jay Pharoh? Lorne has basically called the election. Fred Armisen is not going to be around for four more years. (Deduce the rest and violate the rule in your own mind.)
ReplyDelete--bd