Sunday, July 5, 2026

Saturday Night Live: Lorne Michaels’ Brilliant Rebuke About Black Comediennes

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Lorne Michaels gave his critics a brilliant rebuke on Saturday Night Live last night. This is all about the lack of black comediennes on the show. Kerry Washington was made to play Michelle Obama and Oprah Winfrey, and almost Beyonce, all in the cold opening. There was even a joke suggesting that Jay Pharoah, who was playing President Obama, might have to somehow play Jay Z as well. Very cute. The coup de grace was Rev. Al Sharpton, looking natty and thin, taking over and asking “What have we learned from this?” The answer: “Nothing.” Michaels reminded us it’s just a comedy show. Cool it. He’s the smartest guy in TV, as we knew anyway.

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Roger Friedman
Roger Friedman
Roger Friedman is the founder and editor-in-chief of Showbiz411. He wrote the FOX411 column on FoxNews.com from 1999 to 2009, where he covered Michael Jackson, and previously wrote the "Intelligencer" column at New York magazine in the mid-1990s, where he covered the O.J. Simpson trial. He also edited Fame magazine. His bylines have appeared in The New York Times, The Washington Post, the New York Daily News, the New York Post, Vogue, Details, and the Miami Herald. He is a voting member of the Critics Choice Awards (Film and Television branches), and his movie reviews are tracked by Rotten Tomatoes. With D.A. Pennebaker and Chris Hegedus, he co-produced the 2002 documentary "Only the Strong Survive," which screened at Directors' Fortnight at the Cannes Film Festival.

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