From: snidely.too@gmail.com   
      
   On Sunday, Howard yelped out that:   
   > I saw a bit of a clip of the latest Saturday Night Live Trump bit, and   
   > as always it wasn't funny, and I got to wondering why impressions are   
   > such a big part of comedy at all.   
   >   
   > Kicking around the idea with a couple of people who also don't get them,   
   > a couple of ideas came up, but not in a very satisfying way.   
   >   
   > There's a transgressive quality, where you see a serious person doing   
   > something ridiculous. But the problem is that the more out of character   
   > they go, the less believable the impression, and it just becomes a   
   > slapstick bit. Except the attempt to make a believable impression always   
   > seems to dampen the ridiculousness to the point where it's not even good   
   > slapstick.   
   >   
   > There's a certain appeal to insider identity, where having the moderator   
   > of a debate on screen triggers a sense of being smart or whatever. But   
   > while I can see how that might work for a Star Wars movie or a literary   
   > bioflick, I don't get the connection to humor.   
   >   
   > Sometimes I can see some meta-humor coming through, where comedians are   
   > mostly just mocking the idea of impressions at all. I know The Simpsons   
   > has done this sometimes, for example. But that's just a tiny bit of how   
   > they're used, as far as I know, and most of the comedy is just around a   
   > fairly conventional impression.   
   >   
   > What am I missing? Why are impressions so popular?   
      
   This still doesn't answer your question (is there an answer?), but   
   maybe it helps:   
      
      
   The success of "Jeopardy!" also resulted in the show being parodied,   
   most notably on NBC's "Saturday Night Live." In a segment known as   
   "Celebrity Jeopardy!," actor Will Ferrell portrayed Trebek.   
      
   "I love them," Trebek said of the parodies. "It means you've arrived.   
   If you do a takeoff of somebody, it's a sign that you believe your   
   audience will immediately recognize who you're poking fun at. And if   
   that's the case, that means there must be a lot of people who have   
   watched your show over the years or are watching now, so they know   
   immediately what the reference is."   
      
      
      
   /dps   
      
   --   
   As a colleague once told me about an incoming manager,   
   "He does very well in a suck-up, kick-down culture."   
      Bill in Vancouver   
      
   --- SoupGate-Win32 v1.05   
    * Origin: you cannot sedate... all the things you hate (1:229/2)