Please Don't Screw This Up, SNL

It's been a while since I've watched Saturday Night Live with any sort of regularity. Partly because I'm not around on Saturday nights anymore, but mostly because a large part of me died when Tina Fey attempted to kill the show by bringing in the "Nobody Laughed" years (i.e. those years when every sketch became 15 minutes long, funny cast members fled, and we were left with really awkward silence during a live comedy show). I guess I sort of have come back in the past two years thanks to Andy Samberg's Digital Shorts, and his spot-on Scrooge McDuck, but that was always jammed in between the awful Amy Poehler mugging for the camera and Keenan Thompson ruining whatever good memories I had of youth, "Good Burger," and "All That."

On the heels of the mega-flop of the decade so far ("McGruber"), the Used-To-Be-Funny-But-Had-His-Soul-Sucked-Out-By-Years-Of-Background-Work-Because-He-Wasn't-In-Fey's-Girl's-Club Will Forte finally is exiting stage left. Which is too bad. I was checking out sites online to see if Forte had any interesting "Why He Left" stories like the awkward sexual harassment ones from years past, and stumbled across this guy:

Jay Pharoah.

He's only 22, African American, an impressionist and stand-up, and, apparently, he's replacing Forte.

A few videos later on YouTube, and I'm pretty sure this is the potentially the best cast member SNL has had in a decade. Seriously. An African American Darryl Hammond, but goofy as hell like the since un-replaced Tracy Morgan.

Is it too much to ask that the perennially lame writers SNL's been employing (not the "Lonely Island" guys. They're awesome...) to not bury this kid? I mean, can we maybe just immediately fire Fred Armisen and plug Pharoah in as Obama. Kick Keenan to the curb, maybe hire Kel...that's a possibility too...and give Pharoah a skit based on his Denzel impression? Just something! I don't want to see him just singing background for some actor's monologue where they do a tune.

C'mon breakout season for an SNL cast member. We could really use one.