I am writing this from a hip little Internet cafe near my house, where RIGHT NOW on television (okay, it's in an ad break) two personalities on an ESPN talk show are role-playing (I assume somewhat satirically, there's no volume) major figures of the sports world.

Satire through impersonation is not new. What is new is that this segment of the show is called "Role-play," explicitly identifying what they are doing as it is.

Jon Walton, your chariot has arrived.

yrs--
--Ben