For all the admirable traits one might possess, there are those to which he or she will never come close. In the case of Ben Affleck, comedic dexterity is one such untenable trait.

Ben Affleck's over-the-top Olbermann routine on SNL last night was funny at first, but quickly unraveled into some desperate, over-the-top, Monster Truck-like screechfest. I initially thought he was trying to lay down some decent satire; he started off rather subdued. But as the skit progressed I saw it becoming more and more absurd, and finally I realized I was witnessing a popping of the imitation-inflation bubble that Dana Carvey and others so effectively flirt with, but never burst.

Consider the impressionist: the comedian whose imitation finds a broad line between reality and exaggeration, and pushes its edges. Dana Carvey, an SNL cast member from fifteen years back, was a master at it. In his "McLaughlin Group" spoofs, he would amplify his impersonation of the grumpy PBS host, John McLaughlin, right up to the point of oversaturation, and then pull it back just a bit. "WRONG!" he'd belt at (the portrayers of) Jack Germond or Eleanor Clift, and then roll into an exaggerated description of the range of his next question's "1 to 10" scale. Most of Carvey's character imitations pushed beyond subtlety, but as he himself once pointed out his were not simply impersonations, but impressions. Exaggeration is part of the formula.

Contrast this with the satirist's domain. His is a much tougher balancing act (I never quite got it down; see this page or this other one for a couple examples of my satirist days), and usually only effectively done by the true masters. Effective satire fools many audience members -- think This is Spinal Tap, a movie whose theater success was smothered by the fact many thought it was a real documentary about a rock band they'd never heard of. Not exactly the place for satire, you won't see it too often coming from SNL.

And, in terms of comedic delivery, Affleck was all over the map. Like a blind man trying to land a C-5 on an aircraft carrier.

As the sketch passed its halfway point, Affleck jumped overboard, head first, flailing and twitching and emoting to a point that apparently made a lot of the audience uncomfortable -- there's plenty of heavy laughing, but notably only by a fraction of the audience.

Overdoing exaggeration in character impressionism is like cooking up a great pot of chili, but then adding waaaay too much salt. There's really nothing you can do once you've exceeded a recipe's maximum allowable salinity level.

Obviously the sort of right winger who regularly watches fake wrestling and bass fishing TV shows will have found the impression hilarious, but I have to wonder why SNL has never done such a warped exaggeration of Bill Orally, Rush Limbaugh or Sean Hannity. Is Olbermann really considered that far out, whereas O'Reilly, Rump Leakage, and Hannity are not? If so, why is Olbermann outrating Bill O'Reilly and Sean Hannity these days? Why hasn't Limbaugh ever had a successful TV show (remember, Limbaugh has miserably failed in his attempts to attract a TV audience)?

In reality it was just another oversaturated impression by someone ill-equipped to try this sort of thing. Ben Affleck is not exactly the sharpest comedic knife in the drawer.

Olbermann thinks the routine was hilarious (or, at least, he says so) -- maybe he's doing a Sarah Palin and pretending the skewering didn't offend him. The most likely scenario has Olbermann a bit offended by the routine, though smart enough to realize the value of a good roasting. As we all know, regardless how devastating it was, the skit has elevated Olbermann to the status of someone imitated on SNL -- an acknowledgment of his cultural importance.

Watch out, Chris Matthews, there's a new Sheriff in MSNBC-ville.

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