Barack Obama's coattails boost Armisen
Comic Fred Armisen had more reason than most to cheer Barack Obama's election to the presidency. His impersonation of the senator has finally made Armisen a breakout performer on ''Saturday Night Live'' after being on the show for seven seasons. Now there's the possibility of playing him for four more years.
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Armisen met the Democrat a year ago when Obama appeared in an ''SNL'' Halloween sketch.
''There's always the public persona and then the private one," Armisen says. ''He's cool. But whenever you do [an impression] it's always different than what the person is really like.''
When Armisen was a kid, he used to laugh at how Dana Carvey impersonated the first President Bush.
''I loved how Chevy Chase used to do [Gerald Ford], but he was really just doing himself,'' Armisen says. ''He wasn't really taking on [any qualities] of Ford.''
To get into the head of Obama, Armisen stares at one particular photo of the senator. ''It's a photo of him when his brow is downward. It's the ultimate serious expression,'' he says. ''He kind of looks mysterious.''
Then he gets perfectly still.
''From there, it's a matter of hitting my marks and reading cue cards,'' he says. ''But to do him, it takes a number of little things. Most of all, it means not being as nervous as possible. He seems so cool at times.
''I'm faking being cool.''
Armisen assembles his Obama from ''different pieces,'' comparing it to an intricate game.
''To me, it's like trying to figure out a Rubik's Cube or a puzzle,'' he says. ''There are so many pieces to put together.
''There's the littlest amount of fear going into this, but it's fear that I like having.''
Scripps Howard News Service