...oh look everybody, a black lady voter....
May 26, 2008 4:06 PM Subscribe
"'Hello pig farmers!'... oh look everybody, a black lady voter... I am going left with the political thumb pointed down... I am now the center of attention...." Rosemary Watson's impersonation of Hillary Clinton in That Hillary Show is dead-on perfect. Listening to the clips with your eyes closed, it's nearly impossible to distinguish the actor from the politician. Right down to the trademark Hillary chuckle. Except that Rosemary Watson's Hillary is far funnier.
In a way I feel slightly bad for her because it looks like she would have had a dreamy meal ticket for at least 4 years. Funny stuff!
posted by cavalier at 4:23 PM on May 26, 2008 [2 favorites]
posted by cavalier at 4:23 PM on May 26, 2008 [2 favorites]
In a way I feel slightly bad for her...
I wish that I could remember his name, (...anyone out there know?) but when JFK was elected there was a comedian who could do a spot on vocal impersonation. He became extremely popular. But when Kennedy was assassinated, not only did the impersonator lose his main job, but I am told he became all but unemployable - it was just to painful to see/ hear him do anything.
posted by R. Mutt at 4:34 PM on May 26, 2008 [1 favorite]
I wish that I could remember his name, (...anyone out there know?) but when JFK was elected there was a comedian who could do a spot on vocal impersonation. He became extremely popular. But when Kennedy was assassinated, not only did the impersonator lose his main job, but I am told he became all but unemployable - it was just to painful to see/ hear him do anything.
posted by R. Mutt at 4:34 PM on May 26, 2008 [1 favorite]
Ah... here it is.... As Lenny Bruce said...."Vaughn Meader is screwed!"
posted by R. Mutt at 4:42 PM on May 26, 2008 [1 favorite]
posted by R. Mutt at 4:42 PM on May 26, 2008 [1 favorite]
Great stuff. The "nearly impossible" link doesn't work for me, though.
posted by aqhong at 4:46 PM on May 26, 2008
posted by aqhong at 4:46 PM on May 26, 2008
Yeah, the Vaughan Meader album, "The First Family" was completely off-limits when I was growing up in the 70's - getting caught listening to my dad's old Woody Woodbury albums was nothing compared to the time I tried to break Meader out of the record cabinet.
posted by Kinbote at 4:49 PM on May 26, 2008
posted by Kinbote at 4:49 PM on May 26, 2008
aqhong writes "Great stuff. The 'nearly impossible' link doesn't work for me, though."
"nearly impossible" should ink to the "Tipsy, Hill Talks About Thespian HealthCare" clip; you can get there via the That Hillary Show link.
posted by orthogonality at 4:50 PM on May 26, 2008
"nearly impossible" should ink to the "Tipsy, Hill Talks About Thespian HealthCare" clip; you can get there via the That Hillary Show link.
posted by orthogonality at 4:50 PM on May 26, 2008
You owe me a new keyboard, synaesthetichaze. Because I just threw up on the old one.
posted by The Card Cheat at 5:01 PM on May 26, 2008
posted by The Card Cheat at 5:01 PM on May 26, 2008
Sorry, Card Cheat. Here's something to cleanse your mental palate.
the gaze of the eyeless is fear
posted by synaesthetichaze at 5:11 PM on May 26, 2008
the gaze of the eyeless is fear
posted by synaesthetichaze at 5:11 PM on May 26, 2008
She's much better than the woman playing Hillary on Saturday Night Live. Then again, almost anybody is better than anybody on Saturday Night Live. Actually, as I wrote that, I just realized I haven't really seen the show for about 5 or 6 years, so it may be on an upswing but the few clips I've seen the web were really brutal.
posted by zardoz at 5:14 PM on May 26, 2008 [1 favorite]
posted by zardoz at 5:14 PM on May 26, 2008 [1 favorite]
well kinbote, i would have gotten an ass whoopin,with a razor strop mind you, if dad caught me listening to his old Busty Russell lp's.
this may have been a year or two before Vaughn Meader. gosh, everyone bought that album...
but it was only funny for the first few times. like any novelty record.
posted by billybobtoo at 5:16 PM on May 26, 2008
this may have been a year or two before Vaughn Meader. gosh, everyone bought that album...
but it was only funny for the first few times. like any novelty record.
posted by billybobtoo at 5:16 PM on May 26, 2008
Then again, almost anybody is better than anybody on Saturday Night Live
To be fair, Amy Poehler (sp?) is a very funny woman most of the time, although I agree that his Clinton is very bad.
posted by Bookhouse at 5:58 PM on May 26, 2008
To be fair, Amy Poehler (sp?) is a very funny woman most of the time, although I agree that his Clinton is very bad.
posted by Bookhouse at 5:58 PM on May 26, 2008
To be fair, Amy Poehler (sp?) is a very funny woman most of the time
"Most of the time", meaning outside of the 90 minutes every saturday.
posted by Bathtub Bobsled at 6:05 PM on May 26, 2008 [8 favorites]
"Most of the time", meaning outside of the 90 minutes every saturday.
posted by Bathtub Bobsled at 6:05 PM on May 26, 2008 [8 favorites]
Rosemary Watson's Hillary is far funnier.
It could hardly miss, yeah?
posted by ZenMasterThis at 6:06 PM on May 26, 2008
It could hardly miss, yeah?
posted by ZenMasterThis at 6:06 PM on May 26, 2008
How Amy Poehler went from being funny to a no-talent hack the moment she was hired on by Lorne Michaels is one of those great mysteries. SNL writing is crap but Amy Poehler is making Melanie Hutsell look like Tina Fey.
posted by bunnytricks at 6:30 PM on May 26, 2008
posted by bunnytricks at 6:30 PM on May 26, 2008
How Amy Poehler went from being funny to a no-talent hack the moment she was hired on by Lorne Michaels is one of those great mysteries.
It's no big mystery. Good writing, including good comedy writing, is about knowing what to throw away. If SNL took 90 minutes of writing and produced a 20 minute show, they'd be golden.
posted by DU at 6:45 PM on May 26, 2008
It's no big mystery. Good writing, including good comedy writing, is about knowing what to throw away. If SNL took 90 minutes of writing and produced a 20 minute show, they'd be golden.
posted by DU at 6:45 PM on May 26, 2008
It's no big mystery. Good writing, including good comedy writing, is about knowing what to throw away. If SNL took 90 minutes of writing and produced a 20 minute show, they'd be golden.
That's largely true, but in the ten or so episodes I've seen since she was hired, Darrell Hammond has never failed to be at least marginally amusing. The digital shorts work about half the time. Even Kenan Thompson has made me laugh a couple of times. Amy, however, now sucks the funny out of every scene like Gallagher Too draped in moist sackfuls of drowned kittens. She can't even make Weekend Update work, and the jokes tell themselves there.
posted by bunnytricks at 7:04 PM on May 26, 2008
That's largely true, but in the ten or so episodes I've seen since she was hired, Darrell Hammond has never failed to be at least marginally amusing. The digital shorts work about half the time. Even Kenan Thompson has made me laugh a couple of times. Amy, however, now sucks the funny out of every scene like Gallagher Too draped in moist sackfuls of drowned kittens. She can't even make Weekend Update work, and the jokes tell themselves there.
posted by bunnytricks at 7:04 PM on May 26, 2008
Amy Poehler could mow down a schoolyard full of children and I'd still give like her based on how much I laughed at her performances as Andy Richter's kid sister Stacey on Late Night with Conan O'Brien.
posted by MegoSteve at 7:14 PM on May 26, 2008 [2 favorites]
posted by MegoSteve at 7:14 PM on May 26, 2008 [2 favorites]
Wow. I came here looking for some good ole fashioned Hillary-hate, and I've stumbled onto the Amy Poehler Parallel Universe Fan Club.
Hillary sucks amirite?
posted by hifiparasol at 7:29 PM on May 26, 2008
Hillary sucks amirite?
posted by hifiparasol at 7:29 PM on May 26, 2008
Tina Fey makes me feel funny in my crotch.
posted by (bb|[^b]{2}) at 7:50 PM on May 26, 2008
posted by (bb|[^b]{2}) at 7:50 PM on May 26, 2008
I think I saw Amy Poehler on some talk show somewhere acknowledging that her Hillary impersonation isn't very good. I guess she got the job because there's only three female cast members, and she's the only blonde one, or something. Impersonations just aren't her thing, and the show is set up so that they can really only work with the cast members they have. They need more women who are talented impersonators.
posted by good in a vacuum at 8:51 PM on May 26, 2008 [1 favorite]
posted by good in a vacuum at 8:51 PM on May 26, 2008 [1 favorite]
Tina Fey makes me feel funny in my crotch.
Protip: Remove hands from pants. Repeat as needed.
posted by loquacious at 8:56 PM on May 26, 2008
Protip: Remove hands from pants. Repeat as needed.
posted by loquacious at 8:56 PM on May 26, 2008
I thought the Tina Fey\Amy Poehler weekend updates were really funny.
posted by !Jim at 8:58 PM on May 26, 2008
posted by !Jim at 8:58 PM on May 26, 2008
That's largely true, but in the ten or so episodes I've seen since she was hired, Darrell Hammond has never failed to be at least marginally amusing. The digital shorts work about half the time. Even Kenan Thompson has made me laugh a couple of times. Amy, however, now sucks the funny out of every scene like Gallagher Too draped in moist sackfuls of drowned kittens. She can't even make Weekend Update work, and the jokes tell themselves there.
So why are you watching it? I don't watch it very often, but when I do I find it pretty funny. Including Poehler on weekend update.
posted by delmoi at 11:24 PM on May 26, 2008
So why are you watching it? I don't watch it very often, but when I do I find it pretty funny. Including Poehler on weekend update.
posted by delmoi at 11:24 PM on May 26, 2008
Funny on SNL or not, I'll go to my grave remembering Amy Poehler ambling onto the Second City mainstage during a late-night improv session suddenly finding herself playing an extremely belligerent and overweight woman, and somehow managing to palpably convey a sense of outright heft that made it shocking to see her suddenly start moving like her own weight again. Nothing about the work you've seen Tina Fey or Amy Poehler (or the Upright Citizen's Brigade boys, for that matter) can match the stage work they did that led up to their current careers, it was simply brilliant at times.
and what's wrong with throwing 'em a little love for that?
posted by davejay at 11:29 PM on May 26, 2008
and what's wrong with throwing 'em a little love for that?
posted by davejay at 11:29 PM on May 26, 2008
If SNL took 90 minutes of writing and produced a 20 minute show, they'd be golden.
On their good days, they still accomplish this by organizing their sketches properly. The funny sketches come first, then the musical guest, and then Weekend Update. After that is a no man's land of weird sketches and test characters hoping something is quirky enough to find an audience (Christopher Walken and the googly eyed plants, for instance). But if you don't like it, no one's really expecting you to stay up after the news.
On their bad days, I'm glad I can tape the east coast showing three hours earlier and fast forward through the duds.
posted by Gary at 11:38 PM on May 26, 2008
On their good days, they still accomplish this by organizing their sketches properly. The funny sketches come first, then the musical guest, and then Weekend Update. After that is a no man's land of weird sketches and test characters hoping something is quirky enough to find an audience (Christopher Walken and the googly eyed plants, for instance). But if you don't like it, no one's really expecting you to stay up after the news.
On their bad days, I'm glad I can tape the east coast showing three hours earlier and fast forward through the duds.
posted by Gary at 11:38 PM on May 26, 2008
bunnytricks writes "She can't even make Weekend Update work, and the jokes tell themselves there."
Well ... I'm not really a fan, but I have to admit the best Weekend Update team they've had in a long time was Amy Poehler and Tina Fey (however, arguably the worst is Tina Fey and Jimmy Fallon). But I also liked Kevin Nealon and Norm Macdonald, so what do I know?
posted by krinklyfig at 9:40 AM on May 27, 2008
Well ... I'm not really a fan, but I have to admit the best Weekend Update team they've had in a long time was Amy Poehler and Tina Fey (however, arguably the worst is Tina Fey and Jimmy Fallon). But I also liked Kevin Nealon and Norm Macdonald, so what do I know?
posted by krinklyfig at 9:40 AM on May 27, 2008
Gary writes "On their good days, they still accomplish this by organizing their sketches properly. The funny sketches come first, then the musical guest, and then Weekend Update. After that is a no man's land of weird sketches and test characters hoping something is quirky enough to find an audience"
This was always the approach, more or less. The timing changed, but it was always a few great sketches (on a good week), a mixed bag of other material of hit-or-miss, and a few really experimental pieces. I always liked the more experimental stuff, because a lot of the decent sketches since the departure of the Second Great Cast (e.g., Eddie Murphy, Joe Piscopo, etc.) are funny but also meant to be repeatable the following Monday at work. So, you get some great water-cooler lines, but the writing isn't as cohesive as it used to be.
posted by krinklyfig at 9:46 AM on May 27, 2008
This was always the approach, more or less. The timing changed, but it was always a few great sketches (on a good week), a mixed bag of other material of hit-or-miss, and a few really experimental pieces. I always liked the more experimental stuff, because a lot of the decent sketches since the departure of the Second Great Cast (e.g., Eddie Murphy, Joe Piscopo, etc.) are funny but also meant to be repeatable the following Monday at work. So, you get some great water-cooler lines, but the writing isn't as cohesive as it used to be.
posted by krinklyfig at 9:46 AM on May 27, 2008
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Oh, no.... wait, um....
posted by R. Mutt at 4:22 PM on May 26, 2008