Anyone with Saturday Night Live on their resume undoubtedly has a strong talent for impersonations, since that’s seemingly 75% of the sketch material. And it’s no surprise that former cast members like to poke fun at each other using such talents. But sometimes, things get totally (faux) personal, as they did when Bill Hader recently showed off his best Fred Armisen on Conan. Here is Armisen’s hand-hanging response.
Armisen, who appeared on Conan with his Portlandia co-creator and co-star Carrie Brownstein, has been known to show off winning impressions of Barack Obama, Martin Scorsese, Steve Jobs and more. But his “Bill Hader” is pretty one-note, all things considered. He just made his voice nasal and laughed really big, which is technically Hader-ish in nature. But you’re getting comedy-centered revenge, Armisen! Bring out the big guns and muss up your hair while widening your eyes to the size of basketballs. This isn’t selling the bit for me.
In comparison, Hader is almost better at aping himself than he is imitating Armisen, as seen in the image below. It’s all about the eyes with this guy.
Now what really needs to happen is some network getting a reality series together that centers on Armisen and Hader’s professional lives, only with Armisen playing Hader and vice versa. You can’t tell me that show wouldn’t print money. And let’s have Brownstein playing the money-printer, while we’re at it.
Hader appeared on a Portlandia episode back in Season 3, and it’s a shame that it was his only time on the show. Speaking of the IFC sketch series, it recently came back for its Season 5 opener on January 8, with a bit of a change-up in its approach. Instead of just a string of random scenes involving its quirky characters, Armisen and Brownstein are deepening the focus here and giving them all one story to live and breathe in. Pretty sure Hader’s Birdman can find a home here.
Will Hader’s upcoming voice roles in The Good Dinosaur or Angry Birds have him telling someone that he can “pickle that?” We shall see, as we wait for this impersonation war to put forth its next battle.
