Saturday Night Live has parodied every President, Vice President, and Presidential Candidate since its inception on October 11, 1975. Lorne Michaels created it and developed by Dick Eberlson. Parody and Satire are usually protected under the first amendment. They are critical to any country that permits free speech. Different cast members perform the show’s comedy sketches.
Saturday Night Live humor didn’t much or throw jibes at Barack Obama. Most of his sketches depicted him making fun of his opponents or detractors. What made Obama not become easy was his personality. Notable personalities who portrayed Obama’s sketches are Dwayne Johnson, Jay Pharaoh, and Fred Armisen.
Saturday Night Live became progressive during the Obama Administration years. Obama was skewered in very few sketches.
- The Denver Debate
JPharaoh started making impressions of President Obama during his re-election campaign in 2012. In this sketch, President Obama is distracted during the presidential debate after he forgot his wedding Anniversary
- Obama addressing swing state Ohio Post – Sandy
In this sketch, which played during the dress rehearsal, Obama (Jay Pharaoh ) reached out to those that were affected by Sandy. The President targeted the Swing State of Ohio.
The three and a half minute sketch illustrated Pharaoh’s Obama as he tried to display how supportive he was of the people of Ohio. It included listing essential cities and mentioning unsuccessful Halloween plans that were thwarted by the heavy winds of Sandy. That skit was never aired.
- Obama at Mandela’s Funeral
President Obama made headlines during his trip to Mandela’s memorial service. During the press conference, Obama wanted to address on the progress of his Obamacare website but first had to take a selfie with fellow world leaders. He confirmed that Michelle Obama was furious about it. He went ahead to defend his controversial handshake with then Cuban President Raul Castro. He said that the Cuban leader had told him that he was Edward James Olmos. President Obama went ahead to speak about the phony sign language interpreter who was standing next to him. As he talked about HealthCare.gov, the interpreter (Kenan Thompson), appeared behind him and started mimicking his words.
Whenever Obama used the word “website,” the interpreter pretended that he was shooting webs like Spider-Man. The interpreter then started rubbing his nipples when President Obama said that he was relieved that the website had been turned on again.
Obama ordered a jealous German Chancellor Angela Merkel (Kate Mckinnon ) to be whisked away by the Secret Service when she demanded a selfie with him.
- The Rock Obama
Dwayne Johnson hosted SNL dubbing it the return of the ‘Rock Obama.’ It was a rich sketch that was premised on a ridiculous pun. He depicted calm and collected President who smashes his foes with his might executive powers.
- The Hillary Clinton Show Down
An accusation flew around of Hillary Clinton being favored during the Democratic Primary Debates in which Fred Armisen depicted Senator Barack Obama sketch, and Amy Poehler depicted Senator Hillary, Rodham Clinton.
- Executive Orders
When President Barack Obama became accustomed to ditching out orders at the later stages of his Presidency, Saturday Night Live satirized his slogan from ‘ Yes We Can’ to ‘Yeah, I can.‘
There were generally very minimal instances that Obama sketches came out in a negative light. Saturday Night Live tried as much as possible to humanize his sketches, albeit satirically. The Barack Obama SNL skits that mostly stretch from his time as Senator when he was campaigning for President all the way to his last term relies on high – profile comedians who can accurately produce an Obama impression. The appearances may not have been as many, but the several that were aired managed to capture the audience’s attention.