SNL - Humorless Kossacks not getting the joke
Sun Mar 09, 2008 at 09:45:03 PM PDT
We are 11 words into a five-minute sketch, and it is abundantly clear to me and any other English-speaking individual that we are about to watch a satire of Hillary's campaign tactics. Any other interpretation suggests that the listener is as humorless and defensive as the stereotypical lefty is thought to be.
COME ON, PEOPLE!!! Unclench your sphincters for a second! The sketch was a transparent satire on Hillary's specious argument that Barack is a naive waif clearly out of his depth. WAKE THE HELL UP!!!!!!!!
Now of course, it is an entirely subjective argument as to whether or not the sketch in question is actually funny. If you didn't find a sketch funny, no amount of argument I make will convince you that it was amusing. That's fine. But it is sheer nonsense to state that this sketch proves that SNL is in the tank for Hillary.
Of course, complaints of SNL's bias stem from sketches that appeared in the last two weeks written by Jim Downey, who has been with SNL for all but a few of the years it's been on the air, and who has achieved an almost legendary reputation for his political sketch writing. While it's hard to identify who writes what on SNL, clearly the show is not generally known for its right-wing bias. Downey, who has long acknowledged his conservative bent, has delivered satirical blows to both sides of the aisle with seeming fairness. I have been watching the show consistently since it premiered in 1975, and I have been a liberal all that time, and I cannot recall any material that seemed to blatantly have a pro-conservative or anti-liberal bias. Indeed, when Al Franken was writing for the show, any discernible bias on the show was clearly pro-liberal.
The opening sketches in the last two weeks -- what they call "cold opens" -- were parodies of the last two televised Democratic debates, and the basic point of the sketches was that the media was in the tank for Obama. Now I am definitely pro-Obama -- I volunteered for him when I was in Ohio last week -- but while I don't think that any such bias was reflected in the debates, I would have to admit that the media had been, at least until recently, much easier on Obama than on Clinton. You may argue the reasons why, but it is pretty undeniable that it is the case.
On top of these sketches, Tina Fey delivered a blatantly pro-Hillary monologue during Weekend Update when she hosted the show two weeks ago. Again, it's hard to know who wrote what, but I am assuming that she wrote that monologue herself and that it reflects her personal opinions. But it seemed to give the impression that SNL was taking an official position in favor of Hillary.
This all set the scene for last night's show, which I think attracted some pro-Obama viewers, many of whom seem to post on the Daily Kos, looking for any hints that Obama was being slammed. And this sketch, in which Hillary is dramatizing Obama as being hopelessly and cartoonishly over his head as president, acting in a way that no one can really imagine him being, was the red meat they needed, and they jumped on it.
In a way, the weak and ignorant characterization of Obama -- a complete reversal of everything we know of him -- is similar to the classic 1986 sketch Masterbrain, in which Ronald Reagan was depicted as a brilliant mastermind who had the sole and total control and knowledge of all the complex maneuvering in his administration (I'd bet a nickel Downey wrote this sketch, too). In other words, the "Obama as Idiot" portrayal is funny precisely because we know it's not true. So lighten up, Francis.
Another example of the absurdity of the Obama characterization in this sketch -- Al Sharpton is referred to in the sketch as Obama's Secretary of State. Clearly Sharpton and Jesse Jackson are nowhere to be seen in Obama's campaign, and some of the scuzziest politics seen in this election have been the attempts to link Sharpton and Jackson to Obama. In fact, last week on SNL, in a very funny TV Funhouse segment -- probably the most consistently funny segment on SNL over the last 15 years -- was a cartoon of Obama sending Jackson and Sharpton, very eager to campaign for Obama, on bogus missions to non-existent countries to keep them away from his campaign.
While I have the floor, I'll discuss Fred Armisen's performance as Barack Obama. I doubt his will be the definitive impression of Barack Obama, but I don't think he does a bad job. While it's easy to say this as a White guy, I do not believe there is a "minstrel show" quality to his performance. Darrell Hammond does his brilliant impression of Jesse Jackson in blackface, and Maya Rudolph, who is multi-racial, has played both Black and White characters. Years ago, Eddie Murphy performed in whiteface in another brilliant sketch. Clearly Armisen has shown his skill in playing a broad range of ethnic roles, and he acquits himself nicely as Obama. There is nothing exploitative or stereotyped in his performance, and I think he deserves credit.
Of course, a couple years ago, SNL had a Black cast member that could probably play Obama very easily. His name was Finesse Mitchell. He's tall and skinny and was pretty much a perfect fit for the role. I don't know on what terms he left the show -- he was let go during a salary slashing phase -- but I wouldn't be too very surprised to see him rejoin the cast if Obama is elected president. Or maybe a new comic will come on the scene who has Obama down to a T. Darrell Hammond can't play everyone.
