Cleveland comedy fans are in for a wild ride when master impressionist and former Saturday Night Live standout Jay Pharoah hits Hilarities Fourth Street Theatre on February 6 and 7. Known for his uncanny portrayals of celebrities like Jay-Z, Denzel Washington, Barack Obama, and Kevin Hart, Pharoah has built a career on sharp observations, rapid-fire character work, and a fearless approach to taboo topics.
In this conversation, Pharoah doesn’t hold back. He dives into his unfiltered take on one of Cleveland’s most painful sports sagas: LeBron James leaving the Cavaliers. Pharoah has a theory—and it involves LeBron’s former teammate Delonte West and a rumor about his relationship with LeBron’s mother that has floated around NBA circles for years. With the mix of outrageous humor and surprising thoughtfulness he’s known for, Pharoah breaks down why that story fascinates him and how he mines it for laughs without losing the human side of it.
We also talk about the craft that made him a breakout star on SNL: impressions. Pharoah explains why he’s drawn to mimicking voices and mannerisms, how he chooses which celebrities to tackle, and which impressions he loves performing the most—whether it’s a dead-on rapper, a Hollywood icon, or a fellow comedian he admires.
And, of course, no chat with an SNL alum would be complete without a backstage story or two. Pharoah shares a fun, behind-the-scenes tale from his Saturday Night Live days, pulling back the curtain on the chaos, camaraderie, and last-minute madness.
Before he brings his high-energy stand-up and arsenal of voices to downtown Cleveland, Jay Pharoah phoned CleveRock to discuss LeBron, rumors, impressions, and life inside Studio 8H.
I was able to ask three questions during this 18 minute interview. Pharoah had a lot to say about his distain for fast food chains, explained how he’s able to eat foods that he is allergic to with the help of a handful of pre-meal Benadryl, and shot from the hip with hilarious impressions that had me laughing so loud that my transcription software couldn’t pick up what he had to say next.
Pharoah is excited to becoming back to Hilarities, a club that he has been performing for over a decade.
“I love Cleveland, man. I’m looking forward to it,” he said.
“Speaking of Cleveland, I thought it was really dope the way that they played LeBron off.” (Referring to the video tribute the Cleveland Cavaliers played on the Humungotron at Rocket Arena the night prior to this interview.)
“They had that tribute to him. I thought that was really dope,” Pharoah continued. “It showed y’all are a very forgiving city because when LeBron first left, there were mountains of jerseys piled up and burned. Then Delonte West turned into a homeless person. That was crazy.”
As a non-Clevelander, Pharoah isn’t privy to LeBron’s first game returning as a member of the Miami Heat or Albert Belle’s return to Cleveland after leaving for greener pastures. Forgiving? Not so much! It’s hard to blame either player. LeBron left for more skilled teammates. Belle left for more money. Sports is a business. But sometimes, as Pharoah notes, it’s more so personal!
Listen to his take:
Pharoah is a master impressionist. He proved this on his six years on SNL and continues to showcases his talents in his stand-up performances. Political figures, professional athletes, and media personalities are all fair game. Nothing and no one are off limits.
“I’ve got so many! I have over 200 impressions. I kid you not, there are so many impressions I have done,” he said. “I have forgotten the ones I’ve forgotten that I do. That’s how many impressions I have. I love everybody that’s taking the art form seriously. You feel me? People that are really good at it, I’m saying, but if you’re not good at something, you don’t do it. There’s at least 20 new Will Smith impersonators out there. And I’m telling you, only one of them, I would say, almost captures him in the essence that I probably did back in 2000. And there’s only one. Everybody else, I’m just like, ‘What the hell are y’all doing? Don’t do this!’
“You have to first have a talent at it. You’ve got to be able to do it naturally, and then you work on it,” Pharoah continued. “You work on your game, and you improve yourself and you make things more precise. I think I’ve definitely been a conduit of that. And a lot of folks would say, when I came in with the impressions, it kind of changed the game for a lot of folks up a little bit because it’s like, you’re watching a person, you morph into the person and you’re not seeing me anymore. We need more of that. I don’t even think that impressionists get that respect, because people don’t realize what exactly it is. An impression is a reflection of the truth. It’s just like a joke is a reflection of the truth.”
I’ve interviewed a dozen cast members, both present and former, from Saturday Night Live. One thing is clear: They all have signed an ironclad, highly-enforceable NDA with show boss Lorne Michaels. I’ve asked them all for a crazy behind the scenes story from their time on the show. Nobody has had a good answer. Former Weekend Update host Colin Quinn told me about a time that Chevy Chase interrupted his pre-show studio audience warm-up, Tracy Morgan and comedy troupe Please Don’t Destroy couldn’t even come up with answer, and as for Pharoah, his story isn’t earth moving either.
“It’s not even anything, it’s not even bad,” he lowered expectations. “When I saw Dennis Rodman, and shoutout to Dennis Rodman, I think he’s a fantastic player. I don’t know if he knew who I was when I walked past his dressing room and I waved. I was like, ‘Hey man, how you doing?’ And you hear him, he goes, ‘You doing?’ I don’t know what that meant. But I waved at him and I walked past the door and I just see him point to his security to shut the door. He just did a finger wave. And I was like, ‘Well, damn!’ Okay, that’s cool. And then when we got on the stage for good nights, he came up to me, he hugged me. I was like, ‘Oh, don’t try to do it now. You just slammed the door.’ But it was all good. It was all good, man. I’m a ’90s kid. I was born in ‘87, but I remember the Dynasty. I remember Pippin, Jordan, and I remember Rodman, and those three, they were like the pillars of my childhood I’m glad I got to meet him.”
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