Jay Pharoah to appear on NBC’s New Year’s Eve with Carson Daly.
The cast of Green Day’s smash hit Broadway musical “American Idiot” and teen viral video phenomenon Greyson Chance help ring in 2011 by performing live on “NBC’s New Year’s Eve with Carson Daly.” Additionally, NBC’s Jimmy Fallon (“Late Night with Jimmy Fallon”) and NBC News’ Brian Williams treat viewers to a special appearance while “SNL” cast member Jay Pharoah and Internet celebrity Antoine Dodson stop by for interviews.
Here's the article. The question came out whether or not this was a character or impression of the principal. This fits more as character, because Jay changed the name to Daniel Frye (a lot of SNL characters are basically elaborate impressions of random people that the actor or writer has seen). Also, Jimmy Frye and Jay are referring to this as a character. Here's the article with more info...
"Saturday Night Live" earned a few extra laughs in Hampton Roads this weekend when featured player Jay Pharoah, a 2005 graduate of Indian River High School, paid tribute to his former principal.
In a sketch about a high school's "holiday jam," Pharoah played Principal Daniel Frye. Despite the change in first name, there's no doubt about the source of Pharoah's inspiration.
Jimmy Frye, principal of Indian River High School
At the mere mention of "Saturday Night Live," Jimmy Frye, principal of Indian River High School, erupted into a cackle and asked, "You heard about that, huh?"
"Jay was at the school to visit just before the Thanksgiving break," Frye said. "He told me he'd written up some skits and stuff, and he wanted permission for what he was doing. So he did ask me, and I said that it was fine with me!"
Pharoah was unavailable for comment. Before the show Saturday night, he sent a message over Twitter: "Everybody from Indian River High especially watch SNL tonight..."
On his Facebook page Sunday, he mentioned the skit.
Jay Pharoah as Principal 'Daniel Frye' on SNL
"Mr. Frye is my first character on SNL and I asked him about it before I did it, he approved with a smile," Pharoah wrote on the website.
A former member of the local children's theater troupe Hurrah Players, Pharoah joined the cast of "Saturday Night Live" in September. In addition to his take on Principal Frye, he has offered up impressions of Denzel Washington, Eddie Murphy and Will Smith, among others.
Frye isn't surprised at Pharoah's accomplishments, but he's impressed by the speed at which they've occurred. "He was always serious about his comedy," Frye said. "I didn't know his success would come so soon, but I knew he'd keep at it."
Frye learned the sketch had aired after a phone call from his son. "I guess some of the staff and students saw it, too," he said. "They were stopping me in the hallway and asking me if I'd seen it."
"It was sweet," said Kayla Hazlett, a senior at Indian River High School. "His voice sounded just like Mr. Frye, and the brown suit was spot on. "
"It's just a nice gesture that he remembered me," Frye said. "He's shown me a lot of love over the years."
This isn't the first time Jay did this impression/charcter. Jay actually returned back to his high school at age 19 to do his standup. He did impressions of Principal Frye and several teachers (along with various celebs).
To see Jay's first time he performed this impression/character, click here:
Jay Pharoah old footage where he performed at Indian River and originated his first SNL character, "Daniel Frye."
So this is Jay after he graduated. He used a lot of inside jokes here with the students, but it's still funny. He was just getting started as a comedian, and he was already very funny, firing out a lot of great impressions! He also did several impressions of his teachers and his principal.
Impressions include DMX, Kat Williams, 50 Cent, Biggie Smalls, and Bernie Mac.
At the Unstoppable premiere, Access Hollywood brings up Jay's SNL impression of him. This time, Denzel is ready. He's watched it, and he even watched the YT video that helped get Jay Pharoah on SNL.
And Denzel's wife is prepared too! =^)
So the reason why I said, "Denzel did his homework this time," is because he was asked last year if he saw Twilight and he said no (he was of course at the MTV Movie Awards, which was mostly dedicated to Twilight). And then more recently he was asked about this SNL skit in a radio interview, and he did an impression of the impression, but he hadn't seen it (just been told about it). So this time he saw it and the YouTube video.
And that makes me wonder... is he lying? We know he didn't see the SNL video before the radio interview, and at the radio interview he never mentioned that he'd already seen the YouTube video. So either he forgot that he saw the YouTube version, he didn't bother mentioning it, or he lied to Access Hollywood that he had already seen the YouTube video (I guess to just look more "on top of it," since that is something he's been struggling with). Regardless, Denzel has now seen the SNL and YouTube videos of Jay doing the impression, and that's what matters. (Although we don't know if he's seen the Unstoppable trailer parody that Jay did on SNL.)
And here's the YouTube video that Denzel refers to:
Paul Rudd ... Mr. Griggs
Jay Pharoah ... Daniel Frey
Kenan Thompson ... Steve Kane
A school's "Holiday Jam" is riddled with announcements from the very breathy principal.
This is significant, because it's Jay's first character to lead a skit. Kenan also had a nice interruption, but the crowd basically wanted to applaud after Jay's first interruption. So that's quite an accomplishment.
I think this character is very interesting, but he's not exactly going to cause much buzz. But kudos go to Jay for not relying only on his amazing impressions!
This was also Jay's only appearance this week. I like Jay's plan. He just tries to get a starring role in every other week (at the least) and then fills in when needed. That will keep him in the audience's mind as the season progresses.
Devin and Rocky are in for a surprise when they show up to party at their boss's house, Mr. Bernard.
Film - SNL Digital Short: Party at Mr. Bernard's
Robert DeNiro ... Mr. Bernard
Vanessa Bayer ... guest
Paul Brittain ... witness
Bill Hader ... Ricky
Taran Killam ... attorney
Bobby Moynihan ... judge
Nasim Pedrad ... guest
Jay Pharoah ... guest
Andy Samberg ... Devon
Jason Sudeikis ... attorney
Kristen Wiig ... guest
Hahahaha. I love this! What a nice nod to the 80s and Weekend at Bernie's!
Robert DeNiro ... Hamid Karzai
Fred Armisen ... Barack Obama
Fred Armisen ... Muammer Kaddafi
Vanessa Bayer ... Hillary Clinton
Paul Brittain ... writer
Bill Hader ... Julian Assange
Steve Higgins ... announcer (voice)
Bobby Moynihan ... writer
Nasim Pedrad ... writer
Jay Pharoah ... writer
Andy Samberg ... writer
Jason Sudeikis ... Joseph Biden
Kenan Thompson ... waiter
Kristen Wiig ... nurse
WikiLeaks founder Julian Assange is using a TMZ format share his organization's latest findings.
Jay Pharoah is a writer and has some nice hair and facial expressions, but no lines.
Jay Pharoah performs some Thankgiving rap songs as Jay-Z, Drake and Notorious BIG.
Jay Pharoah knocks it out of the park once again!
I think Jay's got the right idea... knock one skit out of the park in every episode. We haven't heard songs like this since Adam Sandler and Jimmy Fallon (and this is very different).
This was Jay's only skit last Saturday night, but it really doesn't matter. He just needs to get one big one each week, and appearing on Weekend Update like this works very well.
The former president and rapper let bygones be bygones.
Jay's got a nice Kanye impression, and he got the crowd over with the singing and attitude a bit. Not super impressive, but it was definitely enjoyable.
Denzel Washington and Chris Pine work through an age difference to thwart a speeding train the size of the Chrysler Building.
Hahahaha. So in Jay's fifth episode, he continues the pattern of leading a skit every other episode. He also delivers the best skit of the night in this fake trailer. He also brings back his Denzel Washington impression in a different way. I'm still waiting to see his Eddie Murphy being put to better use than the Back to the Future DVD skit from last episode. Plus his Obama. Plus he needs some original characters. But headlining the best skit of the night really makes him look good and helps cement my belief that they'll make him regular next season, which hasn't been done (going regular after only one season) since Bill, Andy, and Kristen did it after their first season in 05-06.
"Saturday Night Live’s" new cast member Jay Pharoah does an impeccable Denzel Washington. He did a sketch about Washington working retail as research for a part, and Pharoah totally captured Washington’s sound, his cadence, his laugh. Washington heard about that a lot as he spoke to reporters about his new movie, Unstoppable.
The thing is, when I asked him if he heard the impression, he kind of started doing the impression back to me. He’s in a press conference with costars Rosario Dawson and Tony Scott. From the opening laughter to the way he turns the question around on me and tries to prod me, that’s exactly how Pharoah played it.
Take a listen to an audio clip of Washington sounding very much like the "SNL" version of Denzel Washington.
Overall, the people are giving Denzel a lot of credit for a very brief and off reference to the impression Jay did (and Denzel played on it briefly, because his friends told him the very basics that it was about him questioning everything). So it wasn't as big of a deal as I expected, but it was still a good sign of Denzel willing to laugh at it and poke fun at himself, even when he hasn't seen it.
This is a little typical of older actors. When Bill Cosby was looking to fill the movie role of Fat Albert, his crew recommended Kenan Thompson, stating that he did a Bill Cosby impression on SNL. And Bill's response was, "Was he good?" They said yes, and then he got Kenan down for the audition (and of course he snagged the role).
So I guess if Denzel ever wants to do a time traveling movie and needs someone to play a younger version of himself, then he knows who to call. =^)
Commercial - Back To The Future 25th Anniversary DVD
Jon Hamm ... Robin Williams
Paul Brittain ... director (voice)
Bill Hader ... Al Pacino
Steve Higgins ... announcer (voice)
Bobby Moynihan ... Sam Kinison
Jay Pharoah ... Eddie Murphy
Kristen Wiig ... Jennifer Tilly
Okay so the video clip isn't available by itself, but you can watch it in the full episode at 18 minutes:
If it wasn't for Jon Hamm's amazing Robin Williams impression, Jay's Murphy would have stolen the show here. It was spot on, but it could have used more jokes (which is what Hamm's Williams does so well).
Eddie Murphy has also been portrayed by Chris Rock (04.10.1993) and Tim Meadows (05.10.1997 in "Eddie Murphy, Good Samaritan"). Both only did the impression once, so it wasn't overly successful. I'm hoping that Jay can lead a skit with this impression (or show him off better on Weekend Update like he did with his Will Smith).
As far as these impressions go, Jon Hamm takes the cake. Here's how I'd rank them...
1. Jon Hamm ... Robin Williams
2. Jay Pharoah ... Eddie Murphy
3. Kristen Wiig ... Jennifer Tilly
4. Bill Hader ... Al Pacino
5. Bobby Moynihan ... Sam Kinison
Don't get me wrong, Bill also did great. But you've got to do more than nail the voice and mannerisms. You've got to make the performance funny, and Jon and Jay did that the best. And Kristen was amazing and hilarious (but it was only one joke, really).
It's the fourth episode of the season, and Paul Brittain finally gets to lead a skit... he leads two skits and he gets to say the coveted, "Live from New York..." bit. I think it took Andy Samberg a few seasons to get in on that, and often it takes over 1 season to do that solo. So this is quite an accomplishment.
First, Paul was in the Cold Open, playing Harry Reid:
Fred Armisen ... Barack Obama
Vanessa Bayer ... supporter
Paul Brittain ... Harry Reid
Jim Downey ... announcer (voice)
Jay Pharoah ... supporter
Jim writes most of these political cold opens (makes sense that he's the announcer). I found it smile-worthy, but the joke didn't go anywhere, and the impressions weren't very funny on their own.
Near the end of the episode, Paul got to lead with his first original character:
Commercial - "Sex" Ed Vincent's Sex Symposium
Emma Stone ... girl
Paul Brittain ... Ed Vincent
Steve Higgins ... announcer (voice)
Sign up for the three day Sex Symposium to broaden your sexual horizon.
Wow. I think he finally had me near the end with Emma Stone's bit. This actually reminds me of the kind of stuff that Mike Meyers and Dana Carvey used to do.
It's hard to compete against the other SNL Featured Players, but here's how I think they're stacking up...
1. Nasim Pedrad... In this 4th episode, she follows up her Bedilia character (and great impressions like Kim Kardashian) with her Morgan and Erik characters in "My Brother Knows Everything" (teaming with Andy Samberg... any excuse to see more Andy is a great one). I think Nasim is going to graduate as a regular next season.
2. Jay Pharoah... Jay hit hard his very first episode this season with his amazing Will Smith impression. He followed it up in the third episode with his Denzel Washington. We need to see an original character, and I'm waiting for his Eddie Murphy (and he's being primed to take over Obama). If Jay can continue to lead a skit every two episodes, there's a good chance that he'll graduate as a regular next season. That would be only one season as a featured player, a trick that was last done in the 05-06 season by Kristen Wiig (less than a full season), Andy Samberg, and Bill Hader.
3. Vanessa Bayer... Vanessa strikes in her second episode with an amazing Miley Cyrus impression. Let's see what else she's got coming. Vanessa is definitely coming back next season, but at this rate she'll probably have two years as a featured player.
4. Paul Brittain... Paul finally strikes with a good impression, but it's not funny. Similarly, Paul had a good impression of Johnny Depp in the Miley Cyrus bit during the second season, but it also wasn't funny. Paul needs to up his game and make his impressions funny. The clencher that got Paul in the #4 spot is his Sex Ed original character. Not hilarious, but it's funny and original enough to bump him up. He still hasn't proven that he'll be back next season.
5. Taran Killam... Taran has lost no time in filling Will Forte's shoes and becoming a normal face in many skits. However, he has yet to headline a skit, and he isn't living up to his potential of his Scrub work. That said, his Michael Cera impression was spot on. He should lead a skit with that impression or one of his many other impressions and characters. Time is ticking, Taran. He still hasn't proven that he'll be back next season.
Based on this episode alone, I would stack it like this...
1. Nasim Pedrad (loved My Brother Knows Everything)
2. Paul Brittain (got to give him props for Sex Ed)
3. Taran Killam (great Michael Cera impression)
4. Tie to Vanessa Bayer and Jay Pharoah (5 appearances by Vanessa and 4 by Jay, but nothing noteworthy)
Emma Stone ... Lita Mill-Douglas
Paul Brittain ... neighbor
Bill Hader ... Rudy Plank
Nasim Pedrad ... Laverne Terms
Jay Pharoah ... Syd Awnit
Kristen Wiig ... Cheryl Bryant
Lita-Mill Douglas has an unusual reaction to winning a $2 million home.
This is Kristen's second run at this Cheryl Bryant character. First time was 11.03.2007 with Brian Williams for the Publishers Clearing House.
Jay's one skit this week, and he KNOCKS IT OUT OF THE PARK by busting out his Denzel impression.
Sketch - Returns & Exchanges
Jane Lynch ... customer
Vanessa Bayer ... customer
Bobby Moynihan ... employee
Jay Pharoah ... Denzel Washington
Denzel Washington takes a job at a department store to prepare for his next role.
Jay Pharoah is amazing and Bobby supports him well!
I can see this as a recurring skit as Denzel does research in all sorts of jobs (like a taxi driver for example).
Also, Jay has gotten to headline two skits in his first three episodes, and he has busted out his perfect Denzel and Will Smith impressions. Next he's gotta bust out his Eddie Murphy impression. After that, he's gotta come up with new impressions (he'll eventually take over Obama) and some original characters before he can be the next Eddie Murphy. So far Eddie's the only #1 breakout black SNL star (SNL has always had black stars, but he was the only one to break out like tha).
Also, this clearly puts Jay into the second MVP spot for Featured Players. I think it currently stands...
(1) Nasim Pedrad - only because she's had a full season on Jay and has a few characters(like Bedelia) in addition to impressions like Kim Kardashian.
(2) Jay Pharoah - perfect Will Smith and Denzel Washington.
(3) Vanessa Bayer - perfect Miley Cyrus.
(4) Taran Killam - nothing yet, but he's filling in Will Forte's roles as the every-man. Taran needs a reason to come back next season. I'm a little disappointed that he hasn't headlined anything yet, but we'll see.
(5) Paul Brittain - nothing that would bring him back next season.
9 (tie). Abby Elliott, Jay Pharoah (12 points): Not much to say about either one of these folks this week, although Pharoah’s portrayal of a Bootsy Collins-esque character was highly entertaining. Also, were those his voices in the i-Sleep Pro commercial that Kenan starred in? We think so, so we’re giving him the credit.
SATURDAY NIGHT LIVE POWER RANKINGS: SEASON 36 TOTALS
1. ⇑ Andy Samberg (74 points; Last Week: #4)
2. ⇓ Fred Armisen (64 points; Last Week: #1)
3. ⇑ Kenan Thompson (53 points; Last Week: #10)
4. ⇓ Bill Hader (50 points; Last Week: #1)
5 (tie). ⇑ Bobby Moynihan (42 points; Last Week: #9)
⇓ Kristin Wiig (42 points; Last Week: #3)
7. ⇓ Jason Sudeikis (35 points; Last Week: #4)
8. ⇓ Abby Elliott (33 points; Last Week: #6)
9. ⇓ Vanessa Bayer (31 points; Last Week: #8)
10. ⇓ Jay Pharoah (30 points; Last Week: #7)
11. Taran Killam (29 points; Last Week: #11)
12. Nasim Pedrad (28 points; Last Week: #12)
13. Paul Brittain (20 points; Last Week: #13)
I would have given him 12th... That was his voice in the i-sleep Pro commercial. It was hilarious, but just a voice isn't enough. However I'm not worried. He was the highlighted new cast member in the first episode. It was Vanessa (as Miley Cyrus) in this episode. Next is probably Taran.
Having trouble sleeping? There's a new alternative.
Commercial - i-sleep PRO
Jay Pharoah ... recorded voices (voice)
Kenan Thompson ... guy
Jay busts out his Tyler Perry and Chris Tucker in this voice work. Very creative.
Jay wasn't in this episode much this week, but after the Will Smith bit last week, he pretty much instantly became a valuable member of the show. Can't wait to see what he's got next.
Jay sings with Bryan when they come on as the guest performers.
Show - what up with that?
Bryan Cranston ... Doo Doo Man
Ernest Borgnine
Morgan Freeman
Fred Armisen ... saxophonist
Vanessa Bayer ... singer
Paul Brittain ... Vili Fualaau
Abby Elliott ... Mary Kay Letourneau
Bill Hader ... Lindsey Buckingham
Taran Killam ... announcer
Michael Patrick O'Brien ... graduate
Nasim Pedrad ... singer
Jay Pharoah ... Squiggy
Jason Sudeikis ... dancer
Kenan Thompson ... Diondre Cole
Morgan Freeman and Ernest Borgnine drop by for the back to school edition.
The theme from "Boogerman" is performed at the Emmys. Shy Ronnie was nominated for an Emmy. The theme from "Boogerman" is outlandish, and Bill Hader assumes that it's a pile of dog [doodoo]. Many Emmy voters probably made similar assumptions about Shy Ronnie. Randy Newman beats the theme from "Boogerman." Randy Newman beat the Lonely Island at the Emmys.
I don't think Bill called it dog feces because the Emmy voters assumed it was dog feces when it was truly amazing. I think Andy and the dudes were calling it bad because they have no idea how it got nominated for an Emmy in the first place. So I think this was more their way of laughing at themselves than complaining against the Emmy voters.
A musical tribute to one of the year's most talked about films.
SNL Digital Short: Boogerman
Katy Perry
Fred Armisen ... villain
Paul Brittain ... guy
Bill Hader ... presenter
Taran Killam ... guy
Bobby Moynihan ... scientist
Jay Pharoah ... Jamaican
Amy Poehler ... girlfriend
Andy Samberg ... dancer
Jason Sudeikis ... general
Kenan Thompson ... guy
Kristen Wiig ... girl
Booo! What a waste of Katy Perry and Amy Poehler! This is the kind of idea that sounds amusing until you do it. =^)
Andy's promos were funnier than this. Just this title alone could have inspired a funnier skit.
So here we see new guy Jay Pharoah literally becoming Will Smith. He also did Chris Tucker in this episode. The dude has skills. If he can do characters this well, then he's going to take over the show.
For a little while now, Kenan Thompson has been the only African American SNL cast member, but it looks like that may not be true for much longer. The Comic’s Comic, a blog dedicated to everything related to stand-up/sketch comedy (and the site who actually appears to have broken the news of the previous new cast additions), says Jay Pharoah, a young stand-up comedian from Virginia’s Tidewater, may be joining the cast. Aside from the increase in racial diversity, even more exciting is the fact that Pharoah may bring a new take on President Barack Obama to the table. Though Fred Armisen has done a decent job with the impersonation, he can only do so much with a man who doesn’t really have many outstanding mannerisms or speech characteristics to embellish.
Apparently Pharoah’s casting is pretty much a done deal. (Let’s hope so after being flown to NYC twice for screen tests and meetings with Lorne Michaels.) So this coming season will bring a whole slew of new talent. Below you can check out Pharoah’s comedic stylings, including quite an array of impressions — Eddie Murphy, Will Smith, Chris Tucker, Denzel Washington, Barack Obama, Katt Williams and literally dozens more.
Jay does Denzel Washington and Will Smith complaining about each other (documentary style):
Jay does Eddie Murphy and Charlie Murphy complaining about each other:
Jay's standup (he strings together his impressions):
Good Smoegel impression. Check out his Barack Obama at 3:18. Fred has just been replaced.
I think the coolest thing about his impressions is that the dude plays himself so loose and goofy that he literally transforms into a character. I haven't seen someone do that so well since Andy Kaufman.
Does SNL have its new Obama impression? Can Jay Pharoah be the next Eddie Murphy?
Truth be told that Eddie Murphy was not the best impressionist, but with the creativity Jay has in his impressions, I think he could easily pull out some amazing characters as well.
