If you watched Saturday Night Live this past week (or caught up with the show online), you know that they finally decided to skewer Keith Olbermann and the self-important tone he uses... well, just about everywhere. One major problem: the impression, by guest host Ben Affleck, stunk on ice. In the far-too-long sketch, Affleck spent the entire time trying to get a hold on how Olbermann sounds, alternately making the Countdown host sound like a British lord of the manor and a man with clogged sinuses. It didn't help that the sketch was all over the place, mocking the entire Countdown show rather than one particular segment, Olbermann's oh-so-mockable Special Comments.But one comedian, Michael Terry, completely nails the Olbermann impression in the video after the jump. In it, he doesn't attempt to ape the entire show; he just makes a Special Comment complaining about how he got cheated on his Subway sandwich. "Double meat, sir, as any Ritalin-addled eight-year old will tell you, means twice the amount of meat." It's hilarious, and it puts Affleck's impression to shame.
What's ironic about this video is that Terry used this as part of an audition reel for -- you guessed it -- Saturday Night Live. Hm. Perhaps the folks there should take a second look. They need to do more Olbermann sketches and, thankfully, Affleck will probably be too busy directing movies to reprise the role anytime soon.
[via What's Alan Watching?]
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Reader Comments (Page 1 of 1)
11-03-2008 @ 1:20PM
stg said...
Affleck is not a pro impersonator, I think he did ok the entire show
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11-03-2008 @ 1:49PM
cate said...
I agree....as far as hosts go Ben Affleck is pretty good, he actually puts some work into it and you can tell he has a good time. Why do people complain that he breaks character when he laughs but no one cares when Amy and Seth do it during the Weekend Update? Those are my favorite moments during SNL...when what they are doing is so crazy that they can't keep a straight face. That said, I do love Kristen Wiig's commitment to her characters as well, she's the only one who's made me laugh so hard I cried this year so far. I wish they would give Bill Hader some more face time too. But getting back to topic, this guys Olbermann is better, but not so much better that you need to slap Ben Affleck in the face like that.
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11-04-2008 @ 7:09AM
deebopalula said...
I agree that some of my fave moments are when the cast and/or host break up with laughter mid-skit (Christina Applegate during Chris Farley's "I live in a van down by the river!" bit comes immediately to mind). It was always my favorite part of The Carol Burnett Show too (e.g., Harvey Korman losing it as Tim Conway as his dentist accidentally and repeatedly anesthetized himself), but there was something off about Ben's laughter this episode. Seemed off, like it was either nerves or just plain fake. The part in "The View" skit where he laughed for example.... nothing funny had just happened. No one else laughed, including the audience, so it was weird in terms of timing. I don't know - maybe he was recalling something funny that happened during rehearsals??
11-03-2008 @ 2:14PM
Andrew said...
Affleck wasn't too bad but I agree that this one was much better.
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11-03-2008 @ 2:43PM
colby said...
Meh. I like Affleck's better.
KO apparently got to see in dress rehearsal and found it pretty funny.
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11-03-2008 @ 2:45PM
StillBash said...
Sure this is better but who gives a... uh... something.
At least Afflek didn't drag his 20 year older wife on stage like Ashton Kutcher always does. You can't expect more from Ben that's just it.
The episode on saturday wasn't the best but it's still better than other crap on on Saturdays. Or Mad TV *yuck*
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11-03-2008 @ 3:00PM
bruce said...
This was pretty good, although he doesn't look anything like KO (presuably the pros at SNL could do a better makeup job). But I'd like to see what else was on his SNL audition tape. This isn't so good that it could be the one thing he does.
And just for what it's worth, in defense of KO, the things he gets all riled up about are things all americans should be riled up about. As far as I know, he's never had a comment about anything even remotely trivial, though I can't claim to have seen all of his "special comments"... but the few I've seen were certainly about legitimate subjects.
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11-03-2008 @ 3:23PM
Butters said...
Michael Terry's video was great but I liked Ben Affleck's version as well. Not many presenters take on impersonations and Affleck always does a great job in all the sketches.
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11-04-2008 @ 11:13AM
Tony said...
I can't think of ANY other celebrity hosts that have done impressions off the top of my head. I don't think Affleck's impression was great, it was very ballsy. Most hosts can barely take their eyes off of the cue cards.
11-04-2008 @ 10:05PM
MrWeen said...
Are you guys crazy? Lots of celebrities do impressions on SNL. My favourite being Kevin Spacey doing Jack Lemmon, Waltar Matthau and Christopher Walken doing Star Wars characters. How about the sketch Celebrity Jeopardy? Here's the lists of hosts impressions.
* David Duchovny as Jeff Goldblum
* Tobey Maguire as Keanu Reeves
* Norm Macdonald as Burt Reynolds
* Martin Short as Jerry Lewis
* Lucy Liu as Catherine Zeta-Jones
* Ben Stiller as Tom Cruise
* Reese Witherspoon as Anne Heche
* Winona Ryder as Björk
* John Goodman as Marlon Brando
* Matthew Perry as Michael Keaton
* Drew Barrymore as Calista Flockhart
If you've never seen Duchovny do Goldblum you must see it. It is hilarious.
Justin Timberlake does a pretty funny Ashton Kutchor impression.
Alec Baldwin does a great Tony Bennet impression.
Should I go on?
Please don't make me correct you again. I hate when people are wrong on the internet!
11-03-2008 @ 3:35PM
0megapart!cle said...
The actual accuracies of the voices is about equal (although Affleck's was less stable). But this video definitely fits the ebb and flow of the writing in Keith's Special Comment's better than the hodgepodge we say Saturday.
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11-03-2008 @ 4:09PM
Jimmy said...
I don't think this guy's impression is any better or worse than Ben's. Olbermann is a tough one to nail.
Let's give props where it's due: Ben's UPS delivery guy was hilarious!
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11-03-2008 @ 5:25PM
John Darc said...
what was Ben Affleck promoting anyway? normally, hosts have a movie to shill.
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11-03-2008 @ 6:55PM
Peter Lynn said...
It's "lord of the manor", not "lord of the manner".
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11-03-2008 @ 8:00PM
Joel Keller said...
Thanks. Not sure why I didn't have it that way to begin with. It's been fixed.
11-03-2008 @ 8:16PM
Peter Lynn said...
Sorry to be a pedant, by the way. I was in a grumpy mood.
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11-03-2008 @ 10:26PM
MAC said...
Affleck's Olbermann impression was one of the worst I've ever seen, and that's saying something. This guy is a little better, but not much. SNL would do themselves a favor if they could find someone to do both Olbermann and O'Reilly - their silly feud is ripe for lampooning. God knows they're gonna need something to keep us tuning in after the election's over.
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11-04-2008 @ 5:52PM
Lisette said...
Affleck's Olberman was way better...anyone that watches KO on a regular basis can appreciate all the little nuances of Affleck's performance, like how he turns to the different cameras and the inflections in his voice. The other guys was rather...stiff.
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12-05-2008 @ 5:40PM
Jennifer said...
Affleck's impression was hilarious. I don't think I have laughed so hard at SNL in a long time. The amateur's impression was decent, but I didn't laugh out loud once.
:-/
I would love to see videos of the impressions mentioned by MrWeen. Is there a "Best of Celebrity Jeopardy" DVD? If not, they should really consider it; those sketches were the highlight of a dim time for SNL.
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