Impressions, observations fuel Hammond at Gilda's Club benefit

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By David Burke | Saturday, April 19, 2008 10:27 AM CDT | () comments

Providing a much-needed antidote to election-season overdose, Darrell Hammond brought pointed observations on the candidates and past presidents in a Friday night performance at the RiverCenter/ Adler Theatre.

Holding the title of longest-running cast member ever on “Saturday Night Live,” Hammond performed in the ninth annual “Look Who’s Laughing” concert, part of Quad-Cities Week of Laughter to benefit Gilda’s Club Quad-Cities.

Hammond indeed kept the crowd of about 800 laughing throughout the 90-minute show.

He brought with him not only the impersonations that have been his bread-and-butter on the show — Bill Clinton, Donald Trump, Jesse Jackson, Regis Philbin and Arnold Schwarzenegger — but also a stable of impressions he’s never done on the show, including President Bush, Barack Obama, John Kerry, Al Sharpton, John Edwards, Jackie Chan, Clint Eastwood and Ronald Reagan.

Even without makeup and costumes, Hammond — dressed in all black, with a sport snap cap and white sneakers — hit them out of the park.

He had no opinion, however, on former New York Gov. Eliot Spitzer because he didn’t have to do an impression of him.

“That’s how I make all my political decisions,” he said. “Do I play this guy?”

President Bush caught some of his wrath — “You’re the president,” adviser Hammond tells Bush, “Act like you know where this train is going.”

“I always think this guy is going to look in the camera and go, ‘Abracadabra,’” Hammond said of Bush.

Obama is incapable of subtly making a statement, he said, and Hillary Clinton’s eyes don’t move in sync with her mouth.

But much of Hammond’s bit was saved for the politics of marriage, turning falling in love into a musical production and a marital fight into a tragic opera.

Those who have seen Hammond’s 2000 Comedy Central special recognized much of the material — he’s still referring to himself as being divorced, even though he’s remarried his ex-wife — but it struck a chord with the crowd.

Nursing two cans of Red Bull and pacing constantly on stage, Hammond played much of his material to the audience, several of whom were far too ready to yell out random thoughts.

But the scream of a woman declaring her love for the comedian brought, “That’s why I wanted to get into show business — to get love I didn’t earn.”

Hammond earned plenty of laughs Friday, and further cemented the Gilda’s benefit as one of the special events in the Quad-Cities.

ComedySportz, also a treasure in the Q-C, opened the show with 20 minutes of supersolid improvisation by a quartet of some of its best performers.

David Burke can be contacted at (563) 383-2400 or dburke@qctimes.com.