FakeBamas: The New "It" Guy In Political Parody

Ever since Barack Obama popped up on the scene with his handsome mug, gorgeous family and fascinating multicultural background people have become obsessed with recreating the look, either in parody, in respect, in art, in advertisement or just for poops and giggles. I have become fascinated with collecting this army of "FakeBamas," mostly because they are (well, most of them are) even better looking than the original model. Some don't look like him at all, but that's the point. Obama has become the black, multiracial "everyman" for the unnaturally good-looking FakeBama. Here is my collection of who is "hawt" and one who is not.

Iman Obama: Iman "Alphacat" Crosson, actor/internet superhero

A YouTube sensation, many individuals from random bloggers (like me) to better known bloggers (like Andrew Sullivan) think someone should give this brother a job. Like Saturday Night Live. It's not that we all hate Fred Armisen's Obama for committing the Cardinal sins of "not-funniness" and "light Egyptian pancake brown-face" (even though Armisen is technically brown, being part Lebanese). It's that Alphacat is THAT GOOD, as evidence by his T.I. parody of Barack.

It also doesn't hurt that Alphacat is as good or better looking than Obama, which is the key to being a hot FakeBama. Really. It's insulting to pick an unattractive person to play the president-elect. As good looking or better, it's the only way to better exemplify the "Obama Fetish" everyone is rapidly developing like a full-body rash.

Parody skills: **** (four out of four stars)

General Hotness: ***1/2 (three and a half out of four)

Staff Sgt. Obama: Derrick Brooks

He stood in for Barack during the Inauguration rehearsals. Obama didn't see the resemblance, and yeah, they really don't look that much alike, other than the "light browness," but he's hot, so he's here.

Parody skills: None. He was just doing his job like any ridiculously sexy man in uniform would.

General Hotness: ****

Tropicana Obama: Michael Duvet, model/actor

Tropicana swears they were not trying to capitalize on "Hope Fever" when they cast this incredibly good looking actor for their print ad campaign.

Suuuuure. He's just Fake Obama Sexy for no damn reason at all.

Parody skills: *** (If it's a parody of looking cute while brown, he passes with flying colors.)

General Hotness: **** (That is a beautiful man, my friend. Once again, doesn't really look like Barack unless you squint, but ... ahem, he's dreamy.)

Keegan Obama: Keegan Michael-Kay, comedian

Now unemployed due to the slow death of SNL rival, Mad TV, Keegan Michael Key put up a serviceable Obama that was delightfully goofy and madcap (to match the sophomoric and weird energy of Mad TV). Keegan's only sin is that he's not as good looking as Barack, but he's good-looking enough to meet the standard.

Parody skills: ***

General Hotness: **1/2

Lamar Obama: Michael Lamar, professional FauxBama

Lamar, a professional Obama impersonator, recently went to France to spread some of that "Hope and Change" to our struggling black n' brown French homies. (One love to my Frenchie Snobs!) I don't think he looks anything like Obama (he looks a bit like an old, you know? Obama's younger looking and this guy's face is much more elongated). I think it's better when more youthful people play Obama, even individuals younger than him because it plays up the fact that Obama doesn't look "grandfatherly" like past presidents. He's energetic and hip.

Parody skills: Unknown (I've never seen the man do his thing)

General Hotness: * (He's cute, but not Obama cute ... if you know what I mean)

Roman Obama: Roman Watson, Jesus-loving male model

He starred in a Harper Bazaar's editorial last summer, helping Tyra Bank's indulge in her Michelle Obama fantasies. We weren't really impressed with Tyra's playing pretend, but Fake Barack was incredibly delicious looking, ears and all.

Here is what I initially wrote about RoBama:

He's a Miami-based, 6-foot-2-inch, Jesus-loving hunk of a male model who works for MC2 Model Management. I suggest restraint while looking through his portfolio. He really does look like Barack's insanely hot half-brother.

Parody skills: **** (All he had to strike a pose and that pose was hot)

General Hotness: **** (Did I mention he's a professional fashion model?)

Fred Obama: Fred Armisen, Saturday Night Live comedian/Habitual offender

You know how I all feel about Fred and his sometimes piss-poor forays into Barackatude. He kind of sucks at it. It's gotten better, but ... you know? Still kind of sucky. My fair Alphacat -- he's no you!

Parody skills: **1/2 (He's hit or miss)

General Hotness: *1/2 (Fred actually looks better dolled up as Obama than he does in real life. I don't know how to score that one. But, I also thought Fred made a cute Mahmoud too! Maybe he should just start tanning or something. Couldn't hurt, my fair not-white-white-guy.)

SNL's Fred Armisen Returns To The Snob's Bad Side

1) The biggest crime here is that this is a craptastic impression of New York's governor. I mean, really, he doesn't sound shit like David Paterson. Fred Armisen is officially just screwing with me now.

2) And is he really going to play every non-fat, notorious black man? Because he sincerely isn't good at it. Really. Darrell Hammond, a white man, does an outstanding Jesse Jackson impression despite the handicap of not being an actual black man. Almost makes me forget how annoyed I am over SNL not employing any black people. That's how good it is. Almost.

So what is your DEAL, Fred? Why are your black people so lame? I thought we were getting somewhere with the last Obama "Cool" sketch. I really thought you were improving. And now this abomination.

3) It goes without saying that Lorne Michael's needs to DIVERSIFY his staff, but ... whatever. We all know SNL isn't Mad TV and when they do hire any minorities they don't know what to do with them, and by "minorities" I mean the occasional black person, half black person, Latino and whatever Fred Armisen is (I believe he's part Lebanese). Asians Bobby Lee and Aasif Manvi need not apply.

If they're not going to take the integrated world seriously I don't know why they just won't make the whole show Kristen Wiig and Andy Samberg. Or just Andy Samberg. Or just this digital skit here, shown in a loop for perpetuity. (I also love this one, and this one, and this holiday themed one and especially this one.)

4) New Jersey bashing: The one liners and put downs were funny, but, once again, what did that have to do with David Paterson?

5) Gov. Paterson has a lot of funny things about him that are fair game (some of which he, himself, has made fun of). While the Mr. Magoo shit Armisen did was in poor taste, I wasn't surprised because this is comedy. Mocking the blind gets cheap laughs. But the real thing that annoyed me was how they made it seem like Paterson couldn't do his job. No one as far as I've heard or read has ever said Paterson was unprepared to take on the job. Both Democrats and Republicans and Illinois were pretty happy to see him take the post because Paterson is considered to be highly intelligent, self-deprecating and pragmatic. Alluding that he's incompetent to do his job even though he was dully elected as the replacement for former New York Gov. Elliot Spitzer, made no sense.

Much like how Armisen's original portrayal of Barack as a clueless neophyte didn't make any sense based on who Obama is and how he actually carries himself. But maybe this is the default here. All black politicians are comically unprepared even if they are not in real life. Insert joke.

Hardy, har-har! Lame, SNL! Lame, Fred Armisen! LAME!!!

Barack Keeps It C-O-O-L

It only took Fred Armisen and SNL a year, but they finally did a Barack parody that made sense and was funny (I do enjoy 1960s Rat Pack vibes). This is largely because they finally gave (fake) Barack a personality other than have him play the foil or straight man to Amy Poehler's Hillary Clinton and Darrell Hammond's John McCain. I am interested to see where they will take this new, Lithium-like approach to Obama's modus operandi.

It's a vast improvement compared to their spoof of the second Obama v. Clinton debate where Armisen simply repeated back everything Darrell Hammond's Tim Russert said as if Obama were incapable of independent thought. Parody is, after all, supposed to be rooted in some truth and I don't know anyone who thinks Barack is a dullard. This spoof at least got at something that both fascinates and maddens people about Barack, his unflappability.

SNL Goes B-A-N-A-N-A-S With John McCain, Keith Olbermann, Tina Fey, Ben Affleck, The View and more

I don't know if taking time out for Saturday Night Live in the middle of a heated campaign was a smooth move for John McCain, but it was a hilarious move.

Reliving some of his SNL glory days, John McCain did a great parody of John McCain (including the nervous blinking, but I don't think he was doing that on purpose), with Tina Fey as Sarah Palin, perfect as ever ... going rogue by threatening to never leave the national stage. It's either the White House or "the white Oprah." Brava and bravo, Fey and McCain.

McCain was also pretty good on the Weekend Update segment introducing new political moves like "The Double Maverick" and "The Sad Grandpa" in which he said the strategy was to whine that Obama would have plenty of chances to be president and it was McCain's turn. Once again, what will SNL do once this is all over? The comedy show will be doing a special election episode on Monday on NBC.

The show also had some fun at MSNBC's Keith Olbermann expense. The sketch was a bit wordy and ran long (just like My Fair Keithy). It was also more than eight minutes and starred the evenings co-host Ben Affleck who kept cracking himself up while trying to shout all his lines. It eventually hit the funny button hard when Affleck did a cheesy send up of Olbermann's sometimes self-righteous "Special Comments" by making it about him trying to get a three bedroom apartment that wouldn't take him because he owned a cat. A fluffy, white, fey as all get out, cat.

There was even a sketch of "The View" and while it wasn't as good as the above three, if you closed your eyes Kristen Wiig's Elisabeth Hasselbeck was so good it was horrifying. Fred Armisen's Joy Behar was both right and wrong and one-dimensional and Joy's not that bad. As for Kennan, your Whoopi sucked, but you're the only black person on the show. I guess you can only do so much with what they give you. And Casey New Girl What's Your Face? That was a Jennifer Aniston parody? Was that the ONLY celeb they could think for you to do (or the only celeb you could do)? Lame, new girl. Very lame.

McCain to Appear on SNL This Weekend

Hey! I didn't know New York was a battleground state!

From Gawker:

Senator John McCain will appear on the popular "sketch comedy" television program Saturday Night Live this weekend. McCain hosted the show in 2002, so he's no stranger to their fun-loving antics. The only difference is that this time out, McCain is, we're told, running for president, and the election is on Tuesday. So, sure, hanging out in New York City sounds good, why not. Barack Obama was rumored to be considering an appearance too, but it seems like he might spend the weekend before the election campaigning in swing states?

Personally, I would be obsessively hitting western Pennsylvania and Ohio trying to flip those states in my direction, not chatting it up with Lorne Michaels and Seth Myers, but I'm not going to tell McMaverick how to do his McMavericking. He's obviously a professional at pulling jack moves. And since the Obama Campaign has decided to show NO MERCY and start airing ads in Georgia, North Dakota and McCain's own backyard of Arizona, it's Murderball out there, people! Make your own rules!

That said, what is SNL going to do with this election is over? The race for Commander-In-Chief of What Bush Broke will be dunzo in a matter of days. They'll have to go back to relying on Paris Hilton and Laser Cats -- and maybe it's my ovaries, but I don't find Laser Cats funny at all.

The Barack Obama Variety Half-Hour

The skit was sort of funny, but lacked a lot of edge. To bring Maya Rudolph back to play Michelle Obama, but to just have her do what they typically would have her do (sing something silly) seemed lazy. They basically didn't bother to find something humorous about Michelle or her personality or the chemistry between her and Barack. Michelle does have a personality after all, but the writers seemed to sidestep that all together. (Out of fear maybe? Lack of creativity?) I did enjoy the House Democrats singing "Our House" and Kennan Thompson as Rev. Jeremiah Wright singing, "White devil be crazy." The term "white devil" is really more of a Nation of Islam thing, but I'll let that one slide.

But there was an over all lack of bite. I really don't think the Dems are that bland where they couldn't find something to skewer. They have an easy time embracing the slickness that is Slick Willy, but Bill Clinton, like George W. Bush, is pretty easy to lampoon. Both of their flaws are so close to the surface. Michelle and Barack aren't obvious foils, but ... really ... I could have written something better. I don't know why they just don't go full bore into the sometimes over-seriousness and self-importance of the campaign. I very much enjoyed The Daily Show's spoof of Obama's bio video at the DNC entilted, "Barack Obama: He Completes Us." When the "Circle of Life" started playing from "The Lion King" I fell out of my chair laughing.

But that's The Daily Show.

That said ... this last clip, for me, was the funniest thing on the show Saturday night. I totally went to college with that stereotype: the white quasi-Rastafarian, stoner, hackysack kid with the filthy white boy dreadlocks. That guy ... very easy to make fun of, indeed.

Maya Rudolph to Return to SNL to Play Michelle Obama

I swear, the producers at Saturday Night Live only know two black people. That said, yeah! Maya's coming back for a visit! And she's playing Michelle! This will be ... interesting. I'm seeing her getting attacked by a pair of eyebrow tweezers in her near future.

The real question is will they bother darkening her up? They haven't for past roles where she played black women darker than her, but they darkened up Thandie Newton to play Condoleezza Rice in "W." so anything's possible. (And it was creepy how much Thandie looked like Rice in that movie, even if she was rendered to a mere "Yes Woman" parody.)

From New York Magazine's Vulture blog:

The special-guest parade continues on Saturday Night Live: TMZ reports that alum Maya Rudolph will return this weekend to play Michelle Obama — this should be interesting, particularly because we're just having a hard time imagining how a good parody of Michelle would look. Unfortunately, Tina Fey will not be around to resume her Palin-mocking duties (she put in her time last night), but give us Kristen Wiig as a glassy-eyed Cindy McCain and all is forgiven. [TMZ]

SNL Thursday: Bush Endorses McCain/Palin

Will Ferrell is back as George W.! Hell yeah!

Results Are In: Palin on SNL = Meh

From Huffington Post:

SNL alum Chevy Chase, who thinks Sarah Palin bombed on "Saturday Night Live". "Quite frankly, it's a big mistake to let her go on," Chevy told Access Hollywood at the Give Food a Chance benefit in New York. "What was brilliant about ['SNL' chief] Lorne [Michaels] was that he had nothing written for Sarah and that apparently she cannot improvise herself out of a paper bag!...

"On 'Weekend Update,' that was her big chance," he said. "Nothing."

But Chevy was critical not only of Sarah's comedic chops, but of the political campaign of her running mate, Sen. John McCain.

"The management behind McCain's campaign has been dumb. This has only helped accentuate the problem of his judgment in choosing, in such a cynical way, a candidate like Sarah Palin for vice president. I think the last thing that they would want right about now is to have the rest of America knowing all that... to have her be seen on 'SNL,' certainly never there. If anything, you just want her to be seen just from a distance."

Read more here.

Powell endorsing Obama = Something Unexpected from McCain

In one weekend, Barack Obama received crowds of 100,000 and 75, 000 respectively in Missouri, his campaign announced raising more than $150 million in September, he's up in Virginia and North Carolina and Gen. Colin Powell endorsed him Meet the Press.

This is a lot, A LOT, of good news going into Monday and if we've learned anything from the last few go 'rounds the McCain Campaign cannot allow all this to become the news story du jour. None of this is helpful to the Republican candidate. This is so much "rah rah rah Obama" news that it will completely block out Gov. Sarah Palin's tethered performance on Saturday Night Live.

I don't think the appearance hurt her in any capacity, but it further solidified the point that she's limited in her scope. The best bit was in seeing her sway side-to-side while Amy Poehler performed a hip hop number in her honor.

But seeing her and Tina Fey quickly cross each paths like a pair of voodoo black cats isn't enough to silence Powell's statements that the narrowing scope of the campaign and McCain's judgment in selecting Palin as veep sent him running to Team Obama.

So what stunt will be pulled Monday? Where will the juggling bears and the dancing girls come from this time? Just how many trick ponies does John McCain own? I prepared for the Republicans to do their best to explain why Colin Powell is no longer relevant. That pretty much started the minute the interview was over with.

On Face the Nation, Missouri Gov. Matt "Little Boy" Blunt told Bob Schieffer the endorsement didn't matter, then dug into the crates with the "Obama = celebrity" meme when explaining how The Great Hopemongerer pulled 175,000 folks in Missouri rallies. Did I mention Matt Blunt is a highly unpopular governor who chose not to run for re-election rather than face certain doom to the Democrats this year? He took one for the team and got out of the Missouri Republican Party's way so they could at least have a shot at the retaining Jefferson City.

Blunt had his talking points. Endorsements don't matter. Even when they're from the guy behind the "Powell Doctrine," who is generally liked by both parties, is an iconic military figure and has played ball with the Republicans for the last few decades.

And Powell and John McCain are "friends."

But saying that alone isn't going to make it go away. It'll take something crazy and unexpected. Perhaps something clever involving Donald Trump and Heidi Montag, or Sarah Palin suspending her campaign to go hunt Osama bin Laden. Or McCain naming Joe Lieberman and "Joe the Plumber" as Palin's co-veeps. Or McCain calling for some random person within government to "step down."

Maybe he'll challenge Obama to a duel. Anything to keep the Irate Talk Express rolling and straight jacking for news cycles. Whatever it takes!

Bits O' Fluff: Britney Spears Looks Sober (Yay!) and Mark Wahlberg Hates SNL

I was seriously worried about Britney Spears. Seriously. I don't like to see anyone go off the deep end. It's ugly, even if you're a fluffy pop tartlet. That said, why is it that Britney can get such a fun, funky, tight dance/disco pop production and Janet Jackson has been recycling "Janet." for a decade now? Janet would have tore "Womanizer" up, especially since she and Britney (and Madonna) are trolling the same region of the female sexualized pop. Anyway, nice work.

And Mark Wahlberg, who I adore despite his questionable acting skills is unhappy with Saturday Night Live. Wahlberg was a charter member, first draft pick for my Great Wall of Sexy based on his 90s era underwear model work alone. I loved him as a bigoted, angry cop in "The Departed" and I loved him as an angry, ex-military sniper in "Shooter." He plays good angry and I will probably watch "Max Payne" for him and Amaury Nolasco alone. If he ever wins an Oscar I have a fantasy of the band striking up "Good Vibrations" for old times sake. But even I was confused by SNL's Barky Bark and the Donkey Bunch skit where Andy Samburg, looking nothing like him, but sounding a bit like Walhberg, talks to animals in a Bostonian-by-the-way-of-the-Bronx accent.

Um ... I didn't get it. Neither did Mark.

From Huffington Post:

Someone showed it to me on YouTube. It wasn't like Tina Fey doing Sarah Palin, that's for sure. And "Saturday Night Live" hasn't been funny for a long time. They've asked me to do the show a ton of times. I used to watch it when Eddie Murphy was there and Joe Piscopo and Bill Murray. I don't even know who's on the show now.

Late Bit o' Funny

Saturday Night Live's Thursday Debate parody ... best part, Bill Murray on the Cubs, Chris Parnell's excellent fake Tom Brokaw cutting off people and Darrell Hammond's McCain aimlessly wandering into the shot. I still hate Fred Armisen's Obama, but I'm learning to live with it, much like Amy Poehler's Hillary Clinton, who, initially, I wasn't wild about either.

I didn't see the skit when it originally premiered because I'm all about "Grey's Anatomy" and I don't own The Tivo. But Grey's was good Thursday night. (The hospital flooded! Meredith and McDreamy's relationship still makes no sense! Why is Lexie in love with George? Why must everyone want George?) I need my Grey's in my life. I'm very much waiting for them to find away to bring back the hot military combat surgeon from the season opener so Sandra Oh's Christina Yang can get some.

I have a thing for men in uniform. I still love the intellectuals, but if I could find an intellectual who could kick another man's ass? That would be my dream come true. Anyone know a hot SWAT team officer who reads Ralph Ellison?

You just got schooled Biden-style!

Saturday Night Live does the St. Louis, Vice Presidential debates pitch perfect. Tina Fey, I think I love you, so what am I so afraid of? The creepy accuracy of your Sarah Palin impression. And the fact that you will just use her gibberish verbatim. It's surreal. And I can't think of the guy who's playing Joe Biden (Jason Sudeikis), but I love you too. And Queen Latifah, you're more proof that SNL could stand to hire, like, one other black person, but I love you as well. Good show!

Tina Fey's Palin Is Starting to Creep Me Out

Obama a no show, but Tina "Palin" Fey appears on SNL; Anderson Cooper loves tight black shirts and more

Alaskan Gov. Sarah Palin's ultimate doppelganger popped up on Saturday Night Live Saturday and she was even better than I could have ever imagined.

Tina Fey, I take back anything bad I've ever said about you and I salute you. Good show, madame. Good show.

I couldn’t have been more pleased.

So many of us who saw this were right. Fey and Sarah Palin could be long lost siblings. With the stupid bouffant hair and the right pair of glasses, she was the epitome of Palin perfection, even her northern Midwestern accent was on point and Chicago Tribune writer Maureen Ryan concurred.

As the program came on, there was Fey in a bright red blazer. She was the spitting image of Palin (or wait, is Palin the spitting image of Fey?). Even Fey's flat Palin-esque accent was perfect; Fey had obviously closely studied the interviews that Palin gave to ABC on Thursday and Friday ...

As (Amy Poehler as Clinton) spoke, Fey-as-Palin struck sexy poses and pretended to fire a shotgun. "What an amazing time we live in," she said. "To think that just two years ago, I was a small town mayor of Alaska's crystal meth capitol."

I loved the route SNL took with it, contrasting Palin’s relative newness, inexperience and fraudulent yet “Manchurian Candidate” feeling with a scorned Hillary Clinton who viewed as an undeserving profiteer of her tough loss in the Democratic Primaries. (A pregnant Amy Poheler looked way more like Clinton than usual because of her puffy face and additional poundage.)

My favorite part was when they compared their battles with sexism, where Hillary had to deal with a lot of negativity and vilifying because of who she was and what she represented (I believe the terms “bitch” and “grating” were thrown around a lot), while Palin is being objectified for her sexuality and good looks, with the bulk of her criticism coming from tangible, suspect issues demonstrating she was not vetted by the McCain campaign.

As for Barack Obama’s scheduled appearance, it was canceled at the last minute due to the campaign’s sensitivity over the Galveston/Houston area being battered by Hurricane Ike. And was that a freaky hurricane to watch? I mostly watched CNN’s coverage reporters getting beat up by wind, rain and the ocean and, oddly, of Anderson Cooper removing, then putting back on then removing then putting back on his red CNN parka.

Per usual, Andy was wearing a fitted-to-obscenely-tight black shirt.

And it was surreal with Houston being a ghost town with the exception of crazy folk who showed up in a chicken costume or pretending to swim behind Anderson as he attempted to report the news.

The way CNN and Cooper himself handle his causal, metrosexual, withholding, but nervous newsman style, I have to say, Anderson seems to be the only anchor on TV who actually displays sex appeal overtly on television. (Rick Sanchez tries, but he’s the Rob Riggle of CNN.) This critique doesn’t mean Cooper’s the only sexy person. Gosh, no. As readers may have noticed, I dubbed Sir TJ Holmes of CNN Weekend the sexiest teleprompter reader, but TJ never wears a muscle shirt when he’s covering some flood or tornado in northern Arkansas.

Although I wouldn’t mind that. Not at all.

Seeing Anderson Cooper in a black muscle shirt is almost the equivalent of a hot news woman baring cleavage or wearing tighter, more alluring outfits while reporting, like the women who do the news on Univision and Telemundo. The Spanish speaking airwaves are filled with voluptuous figures with huge chi-chis, sometimes baring cleavage and oozing sex appeal. FOX News does a lesser, slightly more buttoned up version of this, but CNN and MSNBC are all complicit in hiring young hot people to deliver the news (as chronicled in one of my favorite “The Daily Show” sketches of 2008, “NILF: News I’d Like to Fuck.”)

If those shirts get any tighter during natural disasters I fear CNN will start playing Scorpions' "Rock You Like A Hurricane" when AC360 comes on.

The weirdness was further contrasted when Dan Rather was brought on via satellite for an interview about storm coverage (since Rather pioneered live hurricane reporting). Rather, of whom I’ve never seen as “sexy,” still has that perfect anchor man voice and devil-may-care panache. Despite being the crappiest of the three major network anchors in the 80s and 90s (he was always coming in third to Peter Jennings and the iconic Tom Brokaw), I love Rather, largely because of his “Ratherisms,” notoriety for spitting out some crazy Texas turn of phrase and his occasional loss of composure, often like he was breaking the “fourth wall” of reporting by going into something bizarre, like ending his newscasts with the word “courage” or saying “somewhere in the Bible it says … keep hope alive” when the Coast Guard was out trying to find John F. Kennedy Jr. after he flew off and got himself killed, further fueling my speculation that his uncle, Sen. Ted Kennedy, is the highlander.

Well … it’s either him or West Virginia Sen. Robert Byrd, newsman Mike Wallace, news satirist and columnist Andy Rooney or talk show host Larry King.

I’m still betting it’s either Byrd or Wallace.

There can only be one!