“SNL” and the tricky art of political impressions | | |
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What makes a comic impersonation successful? It is not mere accuracy: that would be technical and dull. Besides, the aim is to lampoon a target, not be mistaken for it. The task involves choosing the correct set of mannerisms to exaggerate, and playing them just far enough to be recognisable, cutting and funny. As anyone who has spontaneously done an impersonation at a dinner party knows, this is harder than it sounds.
Political impressions are a mainstay of “Saturday Night Live” (SNL), which kicks off its 50th season tonight in New York. Getting anything to last a half-century—as my 49-year-old body reminds me whenever I exercise—is really difficult. Vanishingly few TV shows last that long. SNL’s success stems from its protean consistency. The cast and writers change regularly. Young, ambitious comics join; established stars move on; but the show’s commitment to topical, inventive sketch comedy remains the same.
That topicality involves a heavy dose of politics, especially during an election year. The show has its two candidate-portrayers. James Austin Johnson mimics the freewheeling, self-interrupting cadences of Mr Trump’s speech perfectly; and Maya Rudolph (pictured) portrays Kamala Harris as an antic, almost cringe, over-preparer. Their impressions are dutiful and competent, but uninspired. Things may well change this season: Mr Johnson’s Trump, for instance, is a genial grifter, which works better for an ex-president than a candidate.
Compare their turns, though, with Bowen Yang’s surreal, delightfully bitchy George Santos, or Darrell Hammond’s smug Al Gore, both of which turned a single aspect of their targets’ personas—Mr Santos’s slithery fabulism and Mr Gore’s condescension—into central features. Or best of all, Tina Fey’s Sarah Palin, which so perfectly captured the governor’s overconfidence and underpreparedness that Snopes, a well-known fact-checking website, had to point out that Ms Palin never actually said, “I can see Russia from my house.”
The hardest type of politician to mock is one who is competent and steady, which explains why SNL’s Gerald Ford was unfunny and crude, and the show never quite found its Barack Obama (nobody did, which may be why the most enduring Obama-related sketch, on “Key & Peele”, starred Luther, Mr Obama’s “anger translator”, and made the president himself secondary).
The big question looming over “Saturday Night Live” this season is who will play Tim Walz and J.D. Vance, Ms Harris’s and Mr Trump’s running-mates. Their hypercaffeinated midwest-dad energy and clunky otherworldliness, respectively, lay a promising foundation.
Thanks for reading Plot Twist. Thoughts on political humour or terrific impressions that I may have missed? Please drop us a line at plottwist@economist.com.
Elsewhere in The Economist this week:
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YouTubers like MrBeast are coming for Hollywood
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The curse of the Michelin star
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Elias Khoury, a Lebanese novelist who died on September 15th, encapsulated the confusions of the Middle East
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Editor’s picks
Must-reads this week | | |
The Economist recommends
What to read, see and listen to | | |
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What to see: “Every Day I Pray For Love” at the Victoria Miro gallery in London. Last year Yayoi Kusama dethroned David Hockney as the highest-earning contemporary artist in the world. Works by the 95-year-old Japanese artist made more than $80m at auction in 2023. This exhibition showcases a range of her recent works. The main attraction is an Instagrammable mirrored room filled with multicoloured lights. On the gallery’s outdoor terrace a reflective ladder reaches up to the sky, and several snail-like sculptures sit on the floor. It is bizarre—but that doesn’t put off buyers.
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What to read: “Vertigo: The Rise and Fall of Weimar Germany” by Harald Jähner. As the far-right surges once again in Germany, interest in the Weimar Republic has been renewed. Books about the period tend to fall into one of two categories. One takes a fatalistic approach, looking at how the humiliations of the first world war and hyperinflation led to the rise of the Nazis. The other focuses on the innovation and creativity of the era. “Vertigo” falls into this second camp, bringing together stories of photographers, film-makers, boxers and artists. Mr Jähner colourfully tells the tale of the era of Bauhaus, Expressionism, female emancipation and sexual liberation.
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