It’s the age-old extracurricular bazaar question: “Saturday Night Live” star Fred Armisen wanted to know if anyone could sing.
Armisen, probably best known for his impressions of President Barack Obama and New York Gov. David A. Paterson, was answering a question about his sketch “Garth and Kat” at the joint Yale Record and Davenport College Master’s Tea in the Davenport College Common Room on Sunday when he suddenly asked the crowd. The sketch, performed by Armisen and fellow cast member Kristen Wiig, features an unprepared musical duo, who make up songs on the spot during their appearances on SNL’s newscast “Weekend Update.”
Dilan Gomih ’13 raised her hand. Armisen invited her up to the front of the room.
“We’ll do ‘Garth and Kat’ together,” he said. And they did, Gomih taking Davenport Master Richard Schottenfeld’s ’71 MED ’76 seat.
At the Tea, Armisen answered questions about his previous career as a drummer in punk rock bands, his “Saturday Night Live” characters and attending the White House Correspondents’ Dinner the previous night.
Throughout the talk he acted out scenes, including one that featured him meeting Prince, and issued nonsequiturs.
“I learned about World War I a little bit today,” he said pointing at a student in the back of the room.
At one point he stopped answering questions and told the students to shout out an impression that they wanted him to do and he would oblige. Oprah, Alec Baldwin and Tracy Morgan were among the celebrities he impersonated. He would not do Obama, wanting to focus on ones he did not do on the show.