Obama Impersonator Lays an Egg at Republican Leadership Conference

I mentioned yesterday that Mitt Romney has no sense of humor. Well, after viewing this video I might need to extend that to the entire Republican Party. It is CSPAN coverage of the Republican Leadership Conference taking place in New Orleans. In it, it seems the Republican organizers sought some comic relief in between the speakers and brought out Reggie Brown an up and coming Barack Obama impersonator.

Brown has his act down. He really doesn’t look like Obama very much, but has similar features. What really sets him apart is his voice which has the intonation and quality of the President’s own voice. That plus copious usage of the President’s favorite phrases and his steady stares to the right and left while speaking made the whole performance eerily exceptional.

He got the biggest audience reaction when his humor ran to self-deprecation, especially in reference to race.

But you could see where Reggie Brown’s personal opinions lay as time went on and his barbed attacks turned to Republicans, starting with his photo of Barbara Bush who he identified as President George Washington, today, then on Barbara Bush’s son who was shown pre-911 looking decisive on the phone, then post-911 holding the speaker end of the phone to his ear.

Things went downhill from there. A tepid reaction to his impression of John Boehner (crying), and a weak response that ran counterpoint to his splashy unveiling of his new slogan (I killed Osama).

But when he started commenting on the presidential campaigns of Gingrich, Romney, Pawlenty and Bachmann, the audience started getting ugly. Self-deprecating humor, it seems works for these people only when it was Brown being self-deprecating as president. Digs at the Republican candidates hit a little too close to home, and gives credence to the notion that Republicans are incapable of laughing at themselves. These were pretty good digs, things we can use next year. Here’s what he said.

Gingrich: His consultants are dropping faster than Anthony Weiner’s pants in an AOL chat room.

Romney: Don’t get me wrong; he might make a great president, along with his first lady . . . second lady . . . third lady . . .

Pawlenty: It’s unfortunate that Tim Pawlenty couldn’t be here, but cut him some slack; he’s having his foot surgically removed from his mouth. Oh no, don’t worry, lucky for him it’s covered under Obamneycare. That along with spinal transplants. John King served him up a ball softer than Barney Frank’s backside.

Bachmann: Now we got Michele Bachmann. (women in audience raise a cheer). Now what can I say about Michele Bachmann that she already hasn’t said about herself? Now the other day she called me a one-term president . . .

And it was that point that Brown looked to stage left, turned back to the microphone and it was at that point you understand that they had cut off his microphone. The music came up and the moderator came out and escorted Reggie Brown off the stage. Brown stayed in character even as they ran him off the stage.

A good performance by Reggie Brown. Typical poor performance by the Republican audience and conference organizers.