2008 marked a departure from the memorable, more cordial years of Chevy Chase as a clumsy Gerald Ford or Dana Carvey’s hilarious H.W. Bush: “wouldn’t be prudent.”  Fey was downright mean.

For her part, Palin was an easy target — a conservative woman and mother. And seemingly abhorrent to Fey and friends, Palin had small town values, a small town family and — as Fey chafed on Palin’s world view — “I can see Alaska from my house.”  The impersonations were sometimes funny, but more often foul.  ”I believe marriage is meant to be a sacred institution between two unwilling teenagers…,” Fey roasted during one of the skits… an innuendo on Palin’s pregnant, unwed daughter.  Her satire strayed from the issues into catty, sexist territory — intellect, pregnancy, family attacks and even sexual riffs.

Lucky for Fey, she runs with a highly elitist, bi-coastal posse — the NY-LA intellectuals who are free from the burdens of conservatism.  They’re free thinkers who celebrate their contribution to the world as they scream at the doorman for not having their Town Car ready.  Palin was an unknown from a far away place, she didn’t stand a chance with this crowd.

Conveniently, this cadre of smarty pants run NBC.  When the Palin impersonation generated some water cooler buzz, NBC gave her a whole SNL special, and then another and another — right before the election.  By then, Palin and Fey had become fused (at least on TV).  She was good at playing Palin.  Too good.  If you turned down the volume, it was impossible to tell the two apart.  The result was, at the very least, chinks in the Alaska governor’s armor.

Fey’s Emmy is just icing on the cake; Saturday Night Live ought to be crying “Thank You!” to Ms. Fey for making the expiring show relevant again.  The irony has not been lost on most observers: it was another woman who utterly ripped apart one of the first women on a Presidential ticket.  Can one imagine Eddie Murphy returning to SNL to lambast Obama night after night weeks before the campaign?  And NBC clearing blocks in their prime time schedule in order to promote more time to bash Barack?  Of course not.

Ironically, Fey’s years of appearances on SNL were never as remarkable as her return to play Palin. When Fey starred in the forgettable “Baby Mama,” some critics noticed a lack of big screen pizzazz.  Funny how a feisty governor from Wasilla can move blockbuster-sized crowds, riveting American TV viewers overnight during the 2008 Convention, but Fey couldn’t turn years of training on SNL and stand up comedy into any great cinematic effect.  Okay, now I’m being cruel — apologies.

This is one backbiting impersonation that has had its 15 minutes.  In a nation that craves to sort its entertainers and politicians into nice, neat bins, please file Fey’s Sarah Palin ’satire’ in the heap of tiresome fads like Flash Mobs, Snoop Dogg Ring Tones and Napolean Dynamite.  Are these things the world might have been better off without?  You Betcha.

July 15th, 2009 – a day that shall live in comedic infamy.  The Obama administration’s first direct hit from reliably friendly allies. Former Saturday Night Live star, now stand up comic Dana Carvey was the guest on the new Tonight Show with Conan O’Brien.  When O’Brien asked Carvey his opinion of Obama, Carvey trotted out some fresh material. “I’m worried. The economy just had a heart attack, but Barack just wants to work on the knee,” Carvey riffed. ”Should we do CPR? No, we’re gonna fix this knee. We can do CPR when it’s efficient and cost effective, but right now we’re going to work on the meniscus. “Carvey concluded the bit suggesting George W. Bush would have used an economic “crash cart.” “Tax cuts for everybody – CLEAR!” The audience roared.  Were they laughing at Carvey’s “dumb guy” Bush impression, or was it the excitement of more money in their pockets as an economic remedy? No matter the audience response.   Carvey saw fit to address economic policy in his comedy. That’s telling.

At the same hour, on the same day – The Daily Show’s Jon Stewart opened fire. ”Last night, Obama threw out the first pitch at the All Star game. He even played short-stop for a time,” Stewart said. “There’s nothing he can’t do…except create jobs.” Ouch. The audience laughed tepidly. It was as though they couldn’t believe what they’d heard, and Stewart moved past the line quickly.

During the same show, Stewart went on to skewer the healthcare reform fight in Washington. Initially mocking Republicans for sounding the alarm on Obama’s ultimate desire for a “single payer” system, the joke took an unexpected turn. ”…that’s just a Republican scare tactic. The Democrats are not proposing a government takeover of health insurance. And they’re certainly not trying to “Trojan horse” us into some European or Canadian-style single payer system,” said Stewart.  With that, Stewart played some grainy campaign video from 2008 in which Obama told a cheering crowd, “I happen to be a proponent of single-payer health care.”  The next shot is a dumbfounded Stewart back at the desk as he coldly confessed, “Wow. That Communist sounded a lot like our President.” 

Since this watershed event in comedy, the Daily Show has taken on a new tone. A day after President Obama declared Cambridge cops “acted stupidly” in the arrest of his friend “Skip” Gates, Stewart took it head on.  “Now, I wasn’t at the press conference last night, and I don’t have all the facts. But I think it’s fair to say that Obama handled that question…oh, what’s the word I’m looking for?  Stupidly?”  

In another segment of the same show, Stewart playfully cheered as Nancy Pelosi and President Obama suggested increased taxes on the wealthiest Americans to pay for health care reform. He pretended to be surprised when he was “informed” in his earpiece that he, in fact was wealthy. ”Oh, so they’re coming for me…ok,” Stewart said sheepishly. Remember, Stewarts’s a New York-based millionaire.  Theirs is the highest taxation in the country, and President Obama and New York want more from him. Is Stewart sensitive to that?  Again, economics and federal budgets as punch lines? You’ve got your answer.

Last week’s Daily Show also featured a montage of the President refuting criticisms of his health care plan. After the string of presidential rebuttals Stewart concluded, “You know a sales pitch is in trouble when it starts with “Look, you’ve got to trust me. We’re not going to kill your grandparents.”

The impression shouldn’t be left that comedy’s liberal leanings are absent. The bias for this president is still deeply entrenched in comedy writers. But writers and performers are also wealthy, privately insured, and often well educated. They have lost much of their own wealth in the markets while beginning to realize the finest doctors and insurers who serve them are growing nervous. Comedians have families and friends in medicine, finance, and industry. Reality is setting in.

The truth of the nation’s growing pessimism and skepticism in Washington is at historic highs and on display every day. Comedians’ choice is clear.  Continue to cheer and cover for a president in whom they emotionally invested so much. Or realize the investment just didn’t pay off as they’d hoped and get back to the honesty in their craft. 

Never have there been so few jokes directed at a President who deserves so many. 

Jon Stewart was just voted “America’s most trusted” by the online readers at Time Magazine after Walter Cronkite passed away. He led the likes of Couric, Williams, and Gibson – all network news anchors who “play it straight.” Meanwhile, Gallup polling reports Obama’s job approval among likely voters age 18 to 29 and 30 to 49 has dropped 6 percent in the last month.

Obama is losing Jon Stewart.  The question is: Can Obama get him back?

Sure, it’s going to be a 90-minute SNL sketch, but instead of the opening sketch that always grabs you and pulls you in to watch through “Update”, I expect it’ll be like one of those sketches thrown in after the second song from the musical guest.  And it will feel like they never quite figured out how to end it…  you know, those excruciating sketches which force you to say “Why am I still up watching this?” 

I like Will Ferrell…  he almost always makes me laugh.  But, there is something about his Bush impression that has gotten pretty mean.  He always played W in that stereotype kind of dim, frat-boy kind of way.  But when he looked into the camera and said “Strategery” during the mock debates against Darrell Hammond’s awesome Al Gore, he had an earnestness that made the caricature endearing.  Now, his Bush has lost the charm and it’s just not as fun to watch. 

Here’s a promotional video, see if you agree:

So he’ll run for his limited engagement. And the show will cost about a nickel because there’s no cast, and the crew will be minimal. The Cort is probably going for about $1.25 per week these days because there are so many new vacancies on Broadway and the Shuberts are probably just happy to have a booking in one of their lesser booked houses. So, I’m sure money will be made by all involved. In fact, HBO is going to broadcast one performance live so the fees for that probably cover expenses going in.

But, the whole thing is a bit pathetic. I’d hoped Will Ferrell would have gracefully left this behind, but he seems determined to milk the last drop from this impersonation. It feels a little like Tim Conway’s 17th “Dorf” video, I think it was “Dorf on Luge” or “Dorf on Curling” or something like that. It’s a far cry from the very classy Dana Carvey and his respectful admiration for Pres. George H. W. Bush.

His press office is sending out signals that there will be “surprises” in the show.  If he is smart and if he wants to appeal to the other half of our country, he will re-inject some heart into the character he has created.  Something is different when you see an actor live in the same room as you rather than on the screen in your living room.  A mean joke at the President’s expense might be funny with a studio audience, but in a Broadway house, there is an intimacy that demands a modicum of pathos from an actor, especially when basically a one-joke bit is stretched to 90 minutes.  I hope Mr. Ferrell rises to the challenge.

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