Comedy Tonight

I find all the hand-wringing over the casting of Fred Armisen to play Barack Obama on Saturday Night Live kind of inexplicable. First off, people still care about Saturday Night Live? Second, it's a fucking comedy show. It's mandate is to be funny. Not politically correct. Period.

Of course, you can debate whether or not the show is funny, but as someone who tends to go out on Saturday nights, I'm not the right person to have that debate.

The Post story cited a couple of other examples of SNL cast members playing political figures, but I find it odd that, as someone who hardly ever watches the show, I remember perhaps the most obvious example of a sketch and a casting that would speak directly to this topic. Back when Bill Clinton got elected -- or maybe when he got the nomination, I don't remember -- they did a whole opening bit on the cast "auditions" for who would get to play him on the show. Everyone took a turn, and eventually they got to Tim Meadows, who stared at the camera wearing a white wig and deadpanned "I'm not going to get this gig."

With the whole "is he black enough?" meme, I think this might have been the way to go to address the subject. Confront the core issue head-on, even if there's a risk of ripping off your own show. Apparently it's not like anyone remembers that bit, anyway.