‘SNL’ Cast Evaluation: Chris Redd’s Confidence Looks As If It Could Propel Him To Stardom

Redd’s take on The Fresh Prince of Bel-Air, a parody of its chipper theme song taken to a dark place, initially captures the exuberance of the original, with Redd going all playful and cocky and conveying Will Smith’s (then-) boyish charm in his every body movement. But the parody takes a turn when the Prince’s Philly bullies follow him out to L.A., seeking revenge. This pre-taped sketch was buoyed by Redd’s talent for physical comedy, the mood alternating between fun-loving and fearful as his Fresh Prince hides out from a violent gang. In a sketch without conventional dialogue, Redd shows that he has the sheer force of personality to carry a funny idea.

In the first few seconds of Redd’s appearance as Louis Farrakhan – a weirdly out-of-date reference – on SNL’s parody of Fox & Friends, the significant elements of the impression were already in place. The measured vocal meter, the folded hands with the index fingers poised for contemplation, the momentarily bulged-out eyes – whether taken from the original or just added as creative touches, it was clear that Redd paid attention to the details.

Talking with SNL’s Fox & Friends host stand-ins, Redd’s Farrakhan gives off just enough of a friendly vibe to convince the hosts he’s on their side, while his words say otherwise. By the end of his appearance, he’s calling for their deaths, but doing so with such a welcoming smile that they still manage to miss the point. Hard to say if (or even why) they would bring this back, but Redd’s portrayal gives us reason to hope they do.

Captain Shadow is a superhero played by Kevin Hart, and the Cardinal, played by Redd, is his trusty youthful sidekick. They ride in a vehicle very similar to the Batmobile, and after foiling a crime, they are stopped by a police officer for speeding – at 140 m.p.h.

This sketch combines two basic premises, looking at how much trouble a superhero like Batman might be in if he were held to the same legal standards as everyone else, then taking that a step further and asking what that would look like if he was black.

Redd plays the Cardinal, the Robin to Hart’s Batman, and his naïveté causes him to exacerbate an already scary situation. While Hart’s Captain Shadow is all growly and mumbling, the Cardinal talks like a teenager on his first great adventure, his every syllable powered by enthusiasm and accompanied by some battle-forged action pose. Even as the police discover Captain Shadow’s secret energy dust (cocaine) Redd’s Cardinal never loses the certainty that the two of them are forces for good.

When Redd played Brown in SNL’s Lion King audition sketch, he was more of the set-up man for Heidi Gardner’s Kristen Schaal than the bit’s comedic focus. But in contrast to so much of the high-energy performance we’ve seen from Redd so far, his Brown showed an ability to take characters in a different direction. As with his Farrakhan, Redd captured the measured, focused qualities of Brown’s speaking patterns, conveying a seriousness one might not have predicted from much of his other work. This was brief, just a few lines, but quickly demonstrated that the show has only scratched the surface when it comes to displaying Redd’s talent. He also had an even briefer take on Katt Williams, just two lines in Kate McKinnon’s “Whiskers R We” sketch, but showed that Williams could develop into a strong impression for him down the line.

Larry Getlen is the author of the book Conversations with Carlin. Follow him on Twitter at @larrygetlen.