SNL’s resurgence came thanks in large part to a renewed cultural relevance at the feet of Alec Baldwin’s Donald Trump impression, along with other notable political bits, so even though the show basically just mimics things that happen in real life rather than anything more imaginative, it’s kind of weird that Baldwin’s Trump and Pharoah’s Obama weren’t regularly butting heads last season.
In the six years he was part of the Saturday Night Live cast, Jay Pharoah put on a number of solid impressions, including Barack Obama, which used to be one of his most popular ones.
Pharoah says that the writers basically stopped writing material for his Obama and didn’t have very good excuses; he says he feels like they gave up on it and preferred to rely on celeb cameos.