jordan-carlos

Saturday Night Live May Hire Jordan Carlos For Obama Gig!

Hamilton Nolan · 11/21/08 02:51PM

Big news on the Saturday Night Live Obama comedy crisis front: the show is auditioning several comedians who may take the Obama impersonation role from the workmanlike but not-so-funny Fred Armisen. And these new comedians are black, like Obama himself, coincidentally! And even more importantly, one of the contenders is reportedly our close personal friend Jordan Carlos, who already made his case for the role directly to Gawker readers! Three others are also in the running. But we really hope Jordan Carlos gets it, because then we are totally going to demand some free tickets for ourselves! And, of course, for you as well. We totally called it. Maybe. [Daily Beast]

Jordan Carlos Tackles The Obama Comedy Crisis!

Hamilton Nolan · 11/07/08 12:53PM

Now that our nation has gone and elected a popular black man with no clear signs of dementia as president, it's obvious that our Crisis Of Comedy is a most vital public issue. Nerdy white comedians have no idea how to make fun of Obama! Never fear. We reached out to Jordan Carlos—professional comedian, Stephen Colbert's black friend, and a guy we once tried to assert (unsuccessfully) would be a better Saturday Night Live Obama impersonator than Fred Armisen—for his take on the future of Obama comedy. Exclusive Jordan Carlos Analytical Comedic Essay Below! Barack: This Dude Even Changed Comedy Tuesday By Jordan Carlos The political balance of power may not have been the only thing that shifted Tuesday. The world of comedy got a bit of a shake up too. Though it's difficult to predict the misty future with any certainty, Obama's win does beg a couple of obvious questions; namely, "Do Black comedians have much to complain about anymore?" Now before you tear my nuts off for asking this, let me say I'm just raising this extreme question for the sake of argument. I don't actually think Black people don't have anything to complain about anymore, though cabs were remarkably easier to come by yesterday in the city. But things have changed—and who are many comedians of color, if not people who point to the old saw of differences between white and Black and all the hi-larious inequalities surrounding those differences? Remove that brand of humor from the mix, and what's left for Black comedians to fall back on? Plenty, of course. The world is full of comedic opportunity. But it will be intriguing to see how audiences will respond when a Black comic moans about the everyday racial politics he or she faces when a Black person holds the highest office in the land. For anyone who can do an impression of Obama, congrats! Your stock just went through the friggin roof! Bush impersonators, report to your local soup kitchen or shanty town. Obama impersonators are guaranteed at least 4 years of career opportunity. For me, a fairer-skinned black dude with newly close-cropped hair and larger-than-average ears, things are looking up. I've already been able to do my impression for TV (once on Headline News and once on a Japanese morning TV show – Yeah, I know. What the F?) and I look forward to at least four more years of it. Though I was asked by the folks at Gawker to give my take on Fred Armisen's impression of Obama, I'm gonna have to pass. Other art forms encourage a lover's quarrel among artists – boisterous roundtables and bustling salons, etc. — comedy, not so much. Take it from me, comics are a sensitive bunch – me more than most (we're not talking Kanye West levels here, but you get where I'm going with this). We want to be liked (obveeez!!!). Did I dance around that enough? You can watch my Obama impression here, OK? [Ed.: And also here] I think the existential question of what comedians can complain about now is shared by not only Black comedians, but also the good folks at The Daily Show and Real Time with Bill Maher. They got what they wanted, right? So now what? Feast on Obama like they did Bush? That would be kinda weird. Recently on his show Bill Maher declared a new rule: that President-elect "Obama must give comedians something to work with." When questioned about this statement by America's favorite old man, Larry King, Maher said, "But look, [Obama]'s going to be the president and we're going to have to get over our nervousness about making fun of a Black person. He's not a black person. He's the president." OK, Maher lost me at the whole, "he's not a black person" bit, but you get what he's trying to say. Eventually ALL comedians are going to have to take off the kid gloves and skewer the newly anointed commander in chief. How they do it will be something that I, for one, am interested to see. To me there's plenty you can make fun of when it comes to Obama: — Because of him the high concept movie about a jazzy black dude being president is dead and over. —People maybe just maybe expect too much from him. —He's got huge, honking ears. —You can make fun of the fact that it's hard to make fun of him. —You kind of have to do a lot of self-deceiving to back the guy (doesn't believe in gay marriage, tough on immigration, tosses friends when they become political liabilities – Rev. Wright, Ayers). —He may kinda owe Oprah a place in his cabinet. —Does Jesse Jackson still want to cut his nuts off like he said? And why the hell was he front-row Chicago victory rally after saying something like that? Obama must have known he said that. Where's my front row seat? I didn't call for castration. You could make sketches out of all that stuff and more if you've got the salt. You should always be able to laugh at your leaders – even if they're awesome people who happen to be Black. Click to view

Young Whites Unclear On Proper Use Of Slurs

Hamilton Nolan · 07/23/08 11:22AM

White man Michael Tunison (the same white man fired by the Washington Post for having an outside blog-racism in action?) has written a column for TheRoot.com. Who cares? White people like us who control the media, that's who! That's because Tunison's point is that most young whites today have friends of different races and would hate to be called racist, which is true but not that revelatory. The real reason we're interested is that they've illustrated the piece with a photo of Stephen Colbert and his "black friend Alan," played by our close personal friend Jordan Carlos! We emailed with him a couple times, we feel like we know him! I guess having a multicultural cast of friends comes naturally to young whites like us. Actually, we just felt the need to point this out: Tunison's piece is called "Racist: The N-Word for White People." That should be "Nilla." We've been over this. [The Root]

Jordan Carlos Wants A Real Job

Hamilton Nolan · 05/06/08 01:51PM

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!

Jordan Carlos Could Be The Next SNL Obama

Hamilton Nolan · 02/29/08 04:17PM

When we suggested this morning that comedian Jordan Carlos might be a good candidate for President of Saturday Night Live Obama Impersonators, little did we know that Carlos actually has an Obama impression. One that is available to watch! Sometimes we are impressed by our own keen powers of prediction (which flow from ignorance—thanks, tipster!). Below, the comedian's "BA-L-ACK OBAMA" sketch from Funny Or Die. Lorne Michaels: consider this an audition. Whether Jordan Carlos wants it to be or not!