This image was lost some time after publication.

Jordan Carlos, the comedian we once touted as a possible candidate for the Saturday Night Live Barack Obama impersonation position (Lorne Michaels didn't agree, obviously), is getting tired of being pigeonholed as a black comedian without a steady job in television. Although he does have that gig playing Stephen Colbert's black friend. He's been on the NYC comedy scene for years now, and he feels he's not getting the respect he deserves. Specifically, he's a little peeved that the NBC show 30 Rock ripped off his own character idea, and that the Daily Show is one big exclusive white person club!

In fact, Mr. Carlos auditioned for the [30 Rock] Toofer role five times with NBC producers, but Keith Powell, a graduate of New York University's Tisch School of the Arts, landed the part. "I heard later there was some regret about that," Mr. Carlos said with a shrug. "The character now dresses the same way I do, and they kind of used the template I had in my audition tapes to make the character. I was like, that sucks. I mean, I would kind of like to make some money off of that." (NBC representatives declined to comment on Mr. Carlos's observations.)

Well, maybe he can get a job writing for the Daily Show?


Mr. Carlos spoke at a panel on race and comedy in Chicago with Lizz Winstead, the co-creator of The Daily Show. "She said, 'Well, in a perfect world I would hire staff writers of color.' I was like, 'Well, it is your perfect world; you can do whatever you want.' But it's the nature of the biz for people to hire their friends, hire whoever they want."

[NYO]

Here he is doing [UPDATE: Some recent stuff]. Decent!