As Saturday Night Live’s head writer and host of the show’s “Weekend Update” segment, Seth Meyers eagerly awaits the presidential election every four years. In 2008, Meyers and SNL alum Tina Fey co-wrote the show’s award-winning parodies of Sarah Palin.
“There’s never going to be anyone quite like that again,” Meyers told Takeaway host John Hockenberry back in September. The Saturday Night Live team, Meyers explained, “knew this is a once-in-a-lifetime thing, where a presidential candidate chose a vice presidential running mate that looked exactly like the most famous person on our show…if it was going to happen again,” Meyers says, “somebody from the campaign would probably say ‘hey, we shouldn’t do this.'”
The 2012 campaign season may have lacked a Sarah Palin, but Meyers found plenty of comedy in this election year. Clint Eastwood’s appearance at the Republican National Convention was, Meyers says, a “Palin-like gift” that Meyers wrote into the season premiere, in a sketch featuring Bill Hader as Clint Eastwood, co-starring in a production of “Eastwood and Chair.”
Meyers also addressed the show’s new presidential impersonator, as Jay Pharoah replaced longtime Obama impersonator Fred Armisen this year. Meyers explained, “Fred is likely not going to be at the show for another four years. And so you try to find a time to get people used to the new President on the show. Jay Pharoah…we really like his impression.” Much to John Hockenberry’s disappointment, longtime Executive Producer Lorne Michaels did not preside over an impeachment hearing for Armisen.
Seth Meyers also explained the comedy behind Mitt Romney, and why the sketches of Saturday Night Live continue to succeed in a competitive comedy landscape.