‘Saturday Night Live’: Is a Barack Obama hosting gig possible — and should it happen?
Throughout the month of February, one of the stories that we’ve enjoyed doing the most here at CarterMatt are the ones chronicling various people within the TV world who would make for great hosts of “Saturday Night Live.”
Today, we’re set to do something a little different in taking on a question that may be controversial to some — but it’s certainly something that we’ve considered as of late: What if former President Barack Obama was to host a little later this season? At first, it may seem like a strange though, but then if you start to think about it, it’s really not that strange at all.
Before anyone out there gets into the whole practice of saying “Obama’s desperate for publicity” or “why is SNL giving a politician a platform,” remember that Donald Trump hosted during his Presidential campaign. Sure, a good bit has changed since that point politically, and we would argue that the show’s changed its treatment of Trump rather dramatically since he previously came through the doors of Studio 8H — still, Trump did host, and if Lorne Michaels is going to have someone who leans heavily Republican host the show, you certainly would imagine that he would hire someone from the other side of the aisle. This is especially true now given that the majority of “SNL” viewers at this point are likely liberal.
The biggest reason to get Obama on board is simple: Ratings. This is a man who’s stayed almost entirely out of the spotlight since leaving office, other than a couple of tweets and a statement through a representative. We hardly imagine that “SNL” would be his first TV appearance since Inauguration (he’d probably do something in between), but public interest in him would likely be so high that we could easily imagine the show topping a 4.0 rating in the 18-49 demographic for his episode.
So what’s in it for Obama himself? There are a couple of different things.
1. A unique approach to delivering a message – Obama is probably well aware of the current sentiment of the country, and he may be down for looking for the proper venue to share his thoughts. He said before leaving office that Americans should continue to have hope, and being on a comedy show could be a way for his to offer up critiques of the current administration in a way that are valid, but also lighthearted and not meant to start political wars or create an atmosphere of doom and gloom. He would entertain and offer up insight to a wide audience simultaneously.
2. He’s a genuinely funny guy – We’ve seen this time and time again, whether it be at White House Correspondents Dinners or other venues here and there. He’s genuinely a fan of comedy, so we think that he’d enjoy the opportunity to play around. Few ex-Presidents have been able to connect with younger Americans in such a way before.
To us, there’d be no better May sweeps episode than one featuring Obama — it’s a little risky from a comedy standpoint, but it’s hard to deny that this would be anything short of compelling.
Do you think that Obama would be a great host for “SNL,” or would this be too political, even for a show that’s become very partisan over the past couple of years? Share below, and head over here if you do have an interest in checking out some further articles via our SNL Wishlist series. (Photo: NBC.)