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.
