Jay Pharoah pays tribute to his Indian River HS principal on 'SNL'

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."

From:
http://hamptonroads.com/2010/12/jay-pharoah-pays-tribute-his-chesapeake-principal-snl

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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:

http://jaypharoah.blogspot.com/2010/12/jay-pharoah-performs-at-his-indian.html

Enjoy!

Denzel Washington talks about Jay Pharoah

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:



Enjoy!

Denzel Washington Does Jay Pharoah's Denzel Washington Impression

"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.


Audio only (radio show):


EMBED-Denzel Washington Does His Denzel Washington Impression - Watch more free videos

From:
http://www.screenjunkies.com/movienews/denzel-washington-does-his-denzel-washington-impression

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As you can imagine, Jay was glad to see this.

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. =^)

Enjoy!

SNL Featured Player Update: Jay Pharoah still strong in second place

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)



Enjoy!

Jay Pharoah didn't do so well in the SNL Power Charts this week

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)


From:
http://www.bestweekever.tv/2010-10-04/saturday-night-live-power-rankings-vanessa-bayer-makes-her-mark/

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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.

Enjoy!

Jay Pharoah joins the cast of SNL

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.

From:
http://www.collider.com/2010/09/02/saturday-night-live-bryan-cranston-jay-pharoah/
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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.

Thanks to Janey for the scoop!

Enjoy!

Has Jay Pharoah joined SNL?

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.

Stay tuned. And...

Enjoy!