Presidents in Parody: The X-Presidents by Robert Smigel
The NBC television show Saturday Night Live has been home to many a presidential parody. One of the most intricate was a series of cartoon shorts written by Robert Smigel and animated by J. J. Sedemaier Productions entitled The X-Presidents.
This cartoon featured former American Presidents Gerald Ford, Jimmy Carter, Ronald Reagan, and George H.W. Bush (all voiced by Jim Morris) as a superhero team. It first appeared on SNL on January 11, 1997. The four former leaders were endowed with superpowers when struck by lightning at a celebrity golf tournament. The title was devised as a play on words, referencing the fact that the members are all former or "ex"-Presidents, and also alluding to the Marvel Comics franchise, X-Men. Their wives are also members of a similar group, "The X-First Ladies".
In one episode entitled "Nixon," Richard Nixon and his dog Checkers are resurrected to aid the group. In later episodes, Presidents Bill Clinton and George W. Bush attempted to join the group after leaving office but were unable to do so because of their lack of superpowers. The cartoons end with the X-Presidents singing a song that recounts the episode's message.
In one episode, another mock superhero team, The Ambiguously Gay Duo, another series of shorts created by Robert Smigel and J. J. Sedelmaier, made a special guest appearance in an episode of the X-Presidents entitled "The Hunt for Osama". The sketch broadly parodies Hanna-Barbera/Filmation cartoons from the 1970s.
Unfortunately, I have been unable to locate any videos of the cartoon that I could embed into this post. The cartoon was adapted to a graphic novel by Random House Books that is available here.
This cartoon featured former American Presidents Gerald Ford, Jimmy Carter, Ronald Reagan, and George H.W. Bush (all voiced by Jim Morris) as a superhero team. It first appeared on SNL on January 11, 1997. The four former leaders were endowed with superpowers when struck by lightning at a celebrity golf tournament. The title was devised as a play on words, referencing the fact that the members are all former or "ex"-Presidents, and also alluding to the Marvel Comics franchise, X-Men. Their wives are also members of a similar group, "The X-First Ladies".
In one episode entitled "Nixon," Richard Nixon and his dog Checkers are resurrected to aid the group. In later episodes, Presidents Bill Clinton and George W. Bush attempted to join the group after leaving office but were unable to do so because of their lack of superpowers. The cartoons end with the X-Presidents singing a song that recounts the episode's message.
In one episode, another mock superhero team, The Ambiguously Gay Duo, another series of shorts created by Robert Smigel and J. J. Sedelmaier, made a special guest appearance in an episode of the X-Presidents entitled "The Hunt for Osama". The sketch broadly parodies Hanna-Barbera/Filmation cartoons from the 1970s.
Unfortunately, I have been unable to locate any videos of the cartoon that I could embed into this post. The cartoon was adapted to a graphic novel by Random House Books that is available here.