Open Letter to Lorne Michaels
Dear Lorne -
It must have been a pain to travel around the country finding the best comic talent for your 31 season hit, Saturday Night Live. The planes, the hotel rooms, the rental cars, the bad food, and those dank comedy clubs - the fact that you stomached it is a testament to your dedication and love for putting the best comic talent on the world brightest comic stage. Now times are changing and America's best talent may only be a few mouse clicks away. This is a huge opportunity for you.
You and I both know that SNL is at is consistently funniest when lampooning American Presidents. To this day the funniest thing I've ever seen on SNL was Darryl Hammond as Bill Clinton addressing the press after he was exonerated; "I am bulletproof." Political satire is what keeps your show relevant. This year has given us the prepackaged hilarity of Sarah Palin, and the fact that Tiny Fey is a dead ringer made her casting a no brainer. But the work of Sara Benincasa as Sarah Palin was spectacular. 23/6, the comedy wing of the Huffington Post (widely considered to be the future of media and recently valued at $100 million) bought the exclusive right to post her material in the final weeks of the election. This was brilliant, not only because Sara B is brillinat, but because Sara B. is cheap. She, along with her friends have created funny without the expenses that accompany a live production. In the world of new media content is still king, but it's also much cheaper.
In the future, Lorne, you will have to augment your award winning cast with a motley crew of ameturs. Check out this clip from Iman Crosson playing President Obama.
I haven't seen a better Obama impression anywhere and I would like to see what he could do on SNL. You still have the biggest comic stage in America and I would emplore you to add some of the brightness light emerging from the most unlikely places.
Aaron
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