President brings his anger translator to WHCD

[David Bruggeman]

Keegan-Michael Key came out for a few minutes of the President's remarks as Luther, the President's anger translator, that Key plays on Key and Peele.

As for Ms. Strong, she wasn't shy about taking shots at the press and politicians, but they seemed to land with larger-than-normal thuds on the audience.  But that's just my impression, I could be wrong.

The job remains as thankless as ever.  I think even more than Oscar host.

David

[Jon Delfin]

Agreed that Strong's stuff wasn't, um, strong. Some good lines, but they got lost in the terrible (lack of) rhythm she established. Setup, joke, repeat. No modulation, no structure, no personality (which was my main concern going in: she's a comic actress, but not a comic, so who the hell is she as a stand-up?). Almost none of the material was unique to her, and could have been read from the cards by anyone.

On another front, I accidentally DVR'd the CNN feed instead of C-SPAN, and so had to FF through three hours of "red carpet pre-show" nonsense. They managed to get out of the way when the president and Strong were speaking, but nobody else. Way to demonstrate the worst of the situation, CNN.

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[Steve Timko]

I listened to Cecily Strong's bit on YouTube and I fell asleep. It seemed more like her Weekend Update delivery.
It wasn't a flop but it wasn't memorable.

Sent from Type Mail

[Melissa P]

The writing was better than I expected (given SNL's track record). 

Sent from my iPad

[PGage]

Strong was weak, illustrating as noted here both that she was an odd choice, and that it is a tough gig (though there have been some stellar performances among the duds).

But it also illustrated how the event is tailor made for the president (any president) who knows how to use it. The expectations are relatively low, and the event can at the least humanize, and at times even drive home certain policy or political points, if done with skill and the right tone. Obama hit a grand slam with the Luther bit; it worked just as being really, really funny, and it allowed him to actually say some things that he probably wanted to say. I thought the end of that bit was particularly masterful - it flipped the script in a way that was not just hack, and enhanced both the humor and the point.

Indeed, it may be that presidents are starting to think that it helps to have a weaker comic act just to make themselves look better.

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[Melissa P]

Oddly enough I found the President highly entertaining, then stopped laughing completely when "Luther" took the stage. 

Sent from my iPad

[PGage]

Of course much of that is in the eye of the beholder; I found the Luther bit not just "funny for a political event", but probably top 10 funniest sketches I have even seen on television. 

However that plays out in the general public, judging by my feed on the Facebook, which is slightly biased towards liberals (but probably only by a factor of something like 60-40, as I operate in a very conservative milieu) the Luther bit cut through almost all of the pop culture clutter last night and really grabbed the attention of a lot of people who might never otherwise focus on politics or even political humor. By that measure, I suspect it was highly succesful.

[David Bruggeman]

I generally have the same reaction to the gags at these things that pay off with the amateur use of Photoshop.

I don't know how much this influenced things, but Strong's dad was an AP bureau chief in Illinois back in the day.

David

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From: Melissa P <takingup...@gmail.com>
To: "tvor...@googlegroups.com" <tvor...@googlegroups.com>
Sent: Sunday, April 26, 2015 12:43 PM
Subject: Re: [TV orNotTV] President brings his anger translator to WHCD

[David Bruggeman]

Luther also has a built in audience going back to 2012, when Key first played it on Key & Peele.

David

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From: PGage <pga...@gmail.com>
To: "tvor...@googlegroups.com" <tvor...@googlegroups.com>
Sent: Sunday, April 26, 2015 12:48 PM

Subject: Re: [TV orNotTV] President brings his anger translator to WHCD

[PGage]

Right - that is my point. Obama played a card that has been set up for him for a long time, and he played it well.

Perhaps my experience is biased by how many college aged and recently graduated people I have on my FB, many of whom are not that tied into politics, but who breathe in internet-based humor like Key and Peele naturally.