So a billionaire mayor walks into a bar …
Stand-up comedy probably isn’t his strong suit, but Mayor Bloomberg expressed mock outrage yesterday that “Saturday Night Live” officials chose an accomplished impersonator to portray him in the show’s opening sketch last weekend when they could have landed the genuine article.
Even his most strident critics could probably agree that, with 69 years of experience behind him, Bloomberg knows how to play Bloomberg.
“I was at the Yankee game a couple of weeks ago with [‘SNL’ producer] Lorne Michaels,” the mayor recalled yesterday when asked what he thought of cast member Fred Armisen’s faux Bloomberg.
“What I should have said then — I didn’t know he was going to do this — he does not need to go and get somebody to impersonate me. I have my SAG [Screen Actors Guild] card, done this a number of times. I think he’d find my agent could negotiate a rate with him he could afford to do.”
That didn’t mean Bloomberg actually saw the five-minute skit, which focused on his response to the Occupy Wall Street protests.
The man just doesn’t watch TV.
“Every presidential candidate except the incumbent debated the economy last week on a news network he founded, and he didn’t watch that, either,” one insider said.
Armisen tweaked the mayor about the botched Christmastime snowstorm response, his abhorrence of smoking and salt, and his ever-ready advice that when the going gets tough, it wouldn’t hurt to enjoy all that the city has to offer.
“Why not cap off a day of protests at one of many of New York’s world-class restaurants?” the fake Bloomberg asked.
He also suggested that the anti-greed demonstrators set their sites on residents even wealthier than he is, such as investor George Soros, “who lives at 85th and Fifth.”
Before “SNL” execs take up Bloomberg’s offer, they might want to check his acting résumé.
The mayor has appeared on episodes of “Curb Your Enthusiam,” “Law & Order” and “30 Rock.”
He also played himself in the Matt Damon stinker “The Adjustment Bureau,” which marked the true low point of Bloomberg’s third term.