'Saturday Night Live' mocks politics with bipartisan gusto
On Oct. 11, 1975, Muhammad Ali had just defeated Joe Frazier in the “Thrilla in Manila,” and the United Nations was weeks away from passing Resolution 3379, equating Zionism with racism. Patty Hearst had been captured and charged with armed robbery, and “The Price Is Right” was about to expand to a full hour from 30 minutes. President Gerald Ford had recently survived an assassination attempt by Sarah Jane Moore in San Francisco, and the Angolan Civil War would soon begin.
And late that Saturday night in New York, a 32-year-old writer-comedian named Chevy Chase sat behind a fake news anchor desk on the NBC television network and intoned: “Yesterday, in Washington, President Ford bumped his head three times getting into his helicopter. The CIA immediately denied reports that it had deliberately lowered the top of the doorway. And Ford was on the campaign trail, announcing in Detroit that he has written his own campaign slogan. The slogan? ‘If He’s So Dumb, How Come He’s President?’”
Continue ReadingPOLITICO 44
No one watching the new show, called “NBC’s Saturday Night,” could have known, but American political humor would never be quite the same. And for nearly 36 years, the institution that was soon rechristened “Saturday Night Live” has been inextricably interwoven with the ups and downs of the post-Watergate presidency and American politics. The program may originate from Studio 8-H at 30 Rockefeller Plaza, but it looms — as the filmmaker Douglas McGrath, who spent a season as a writer on the show 30 years ago when he was just out of Princeton, puts it — as “the Empire State Building of satire, the one that you find first on the crowded skyline.”
Seth Meyers, the featured entertainer at this year’s White House Correspondents’ Dinner, is merely the latest in a parade of “SNL” alumni — including Al Franken, Conan O’Brien and Darrell Hammond — who have braved an audience that amounts to the ultimate trade show for press-and-political humor. Still other entertainers at the dinner in recent years — especially Jon Stewart and Stephen Colbert — owe their careers in part to the brand of “ripped-from-the-headlines” humor that “SNL” pioneered.
That a show that started by parading its “Not Ready for Prime Time Players” would come to loom so large on the cultural landscape, and that its fictional politicians would so often seem more vivid than their real-life counterparts, might once have seemed improbable. After all, Chase portrayed Ford, one of the best athletes ever to occupy the Oval Office, as a bumbling buffoon (and made no effort at all to mimic his voice or mannerisms), and Dan Aykroyd initially played the smiling Jimmy Carter wearing his own dark mustache. Ford did his best to play along with the joke, but some of his lieutenants credited Chase’s caricature with helping to seal the president’s fate in the razor-close election of 1976.
By the time Dana Carvey found the “nah-gah-do-it, wouldn’t-be-prudent” role of a lifetime as George H.W. Bush more than a decade later, the show’s place in the political firmament seemed unshakable. Lorne Michaels, the show’s creator and longtime executive producer, told me in a recent interview that he would find himself listening to the real Bush 41 and think that Carvey “didn’t really sound like the president.” George W. Bush never uttered the word “strategery” (except, perhaps, in deliberate jest), but Will Ferrell did, in a script dreamed up by longtime “SNL” writer Jim Downey — and it quickly came to sum up the 43rd president’s scrambled syntax and “decidery” persona. Al Gore did talk about a “lockbox” for Social Security in 2000 — but never with the somnolent, oracular self-importance that made the sound bite one of Hammond’s best bits.
Get reporter alerts
-
Todd S. Purdum
Readers' Comments (70)
chalons Party: NA
Reply #1
Apr. 29, 2011 - 5:00 AM EST
- Reply
- Quote
- Report Abuse
Perceptions Party: Independent
Reply #2
Apr. 29, 2011 - 5:17 AM EST
- Reply
- Quote
- Report Abuse
BobHaze Party: Conservative
Reply #3
Apr. 29, 2011 - 5:56 AM EST
- Reply
- Quote
- Report Abuse
J Golden Rockwell Party: Libertarian
Reply #4
Apr. 29, 2011 - 7:26 AM EST
- Reply
- Quote
- Report Abuse
morrisseyfan89 Party: NA
Reply #5
Apr. 29, 2011 - 8:26 AM EST
- Reply
- Quote
- Report Abuse
matt22 Party: Independent
Reply #6
Apr. 29, 2011 - 8:48 AM EST
- Reply
- Quote
- Report Abuse
Brian Goettl Party: NA
Reply #7
Apr. 29, 2011 - 8:58 AM EST
- Reply
- Quote
- Report Abuse
chainsaw49 Party: Democrat
Reply #8
Apr. 29, 2011 - 9:14 AM EST
- Reply
- Quote
- Report Abuse
Republitarian1776 Party: NA
Reply #9
Apr. 29, 2011 - 9:29 AM EST
- Reply
- Quote
- Report Abuse
morrisseyfan89 Party: NA
Reply #10
Apr. 29, 2011 - 9:33 AM EST
"Yes, I admit that conservatives in general are not funny people. Comedy and clownish antics are generally a childish diversion and an escape from the realities of life. It's no coincidence then that in general, liberals are comedians and T.V. clowns. Most liberals have the emotional maturity level of teenagers. Witness Howard Stern, the decades long cast of SNL and Barack Obama. Obama is the most immature, think skinned petulant occupant of the White House ever. And what is amuzing is that other liberals think he is actually a serious individual." Really this is one of the most baffling comments I've seen on an internet forum in some time. Not only is humor an essential part of life and not some sort of childish diversion as you seem to label it, but humor outside of the most base form of slapstick requires genuine wit and craft to be able to pull off. I suppose its more a matter that conservatives have become so self-serious and non-introspective that comedy becomes impossible to actually pull off. I would say a lot of tv comedians including Lewis Black and Bill Mahrer have been amongst Obama's sharpest critics. So really you are proving yourself to be a completely uninteresting dullard devoid of any attachment with reality or the joys of life.
- Reply
- Quote
- Report Abuse
Danbury Party: N/A
Reply #11
Apr. 29, 2011 - 9:36 AM EST
- Reply
- Quote
- Report Abuse
Danbury Party: N/A
Reply #12
Apr. 29, 2011 - 9:38 AM EST
- Reply
- Quote
- Report Abuse
morrisseyfan89 Party: NA
Reply #13
Apr. 29, 2011 - 9:46 AM EST
No no, I was quoting the above just poorly. Thats not my opinion at all haha
- Reply
- Quote
- Report Abuse
bob7896 Party: Independent
Reply #14
Apr. 29, 2011 - 9:54 AM EST
- Reply
- Quote
- Report Abuse
ahamilton727 Party: N/A
Reply #15
Apr. 29, 2011 - 9:59 AM EST
- Reply
- Quote
- Report Abuse
ChangeIsHere Party: Independent
Reply #16
Apr. 29, 2011 - 10:13 AM EST
- Reply
- Quote
- Report Abuse
WhatGotUsHere Party: Conservative
Reply #17
Apr. 29, 2011 - 10:27 AM EST
- Reply
- Quote
- Report Abuse
ChangeIsHere Party: Independent
Reply #18
Apr. 29, 2011 - 10:31 AM EST
- Reply
- Quote
- Report Abuse
Old School PG County... Party: N/A
Reply #19
Apr. 29, 2011 - 10:38 AM EST
- Reply
- Quote
- Report Abuse
velvet steel Party: Independent
Reply #20
Apr. 29, 2011 - 10:59 AM EST
- Reply
- Quote
- Report Abuse
Read all 70 comments in our forumSNL is a great show for the perpetually adolescent.
"SNL reflects, mocks politics with gusto" - the liberal/progressived POLITCO.......
SNL has a history of mocking Republicans and Conservatives....................how much money and how many awards has Tina Faye won by mocking Sarah Palin?
Not only do Republicans and Conservatives get mocked and attacked by our liberal/progressive MSM wolfpack press but they also get mocked and attacked by the rich elite liberal/progressive snobs in West LA/ Hollywood...........
In addition to SNL they have Jon Stewart, Colbert, and left-ists like Bill Maher............ .................liberal/progressive hate cloated as comedy..................very sad indeed.......
SNL...a huge political force, maintaining its importance in the politically serious days of the Obama/O'Biden Admin.
For the first time, I've seen WHCD....about a MILLION TIMES! (This year.)
WHCD this....WHCD that.....WHCD the other thing.....
Let's make the DISHONEST DEMOCRAT MEDIA the biggest thing around...since we have a DEMOCRAT Prez who heads them up for his campaign activities....
Let's see...right before the dinner...let's head down and show up at the storm...say a few platitudes...then, jet to Cape Kennedy for the SHUTTLE...(Giffords is there!!!!) ....and do a double whammy TV extravaganza....
No substance...country, economy, and international standing ALL falling APART...but let's PARTY...with some news and the WHCD PARTY!!!!!
Unbelievable!
I'm willing to give her another for having provided an excellent Idiot Detector -- ever notice how many of the Fascist-Progressives have claimed that PALIN said "I can see Russia from my house" . . ? Some of them STILL believe that the Tina Fey line came from Palin . . .yet they say that SHE is the stupid one!
You do realize SNL has done countless parodies of Democrats right? This is what happens from a political movement's who's greatest modern comedy contributions are An American Carol and whatever they called the Fox News attempt at mimicking the Daily Show
14 state senators from Wisconsin fled to a state known for political corruption to avoid having to vote on a bill. they stayed their for weeks.
neither the Onion or SNL lampooned this farce.... any of us could write or produce a funny article/skit with THAT.. you could come up with an entire sitcom around that concept.
if one of them has done something recent with this, then i stand corrected. i wouldn't know for sure since i don't read the Onion anymore and will not watch SNL again, since i enjoy equal opportunity lampooning on the left and the right.
Yes, I admit that conservatives in general are not funny people. Comedy and clownish antics are generally a childish diversion and an escape from the realities of life. It's no coincidence then that in general, liberals are comedians and T.V. clowns. Most liberals have the emotional maturity level of teenagers. Witness Howard Stern, the decades long cast of SNL and Barack Obama. Obama is the most immature, think skinned petulant occupant of the White House ever. And what is amuzing is that other liberals think he is actually a serious individual.
But, SNL does not mock in a bi-partisan fashion. They may make fun of the personal foibles of democrats, but they use their skits directed at republicans as political weapons. If you doubt that, consider Obama. The opportunity to ridicule him for his ridiculous and hypocritical policies has been enormous, and yet SNL has given him a virtual pass. Consider:
Obama who promised to close Gitmo. Obama who said that he would try the Sheik in civilian court. Obama who said that Bush's deficits caused the recession. (Obama increased deficit spending and said it had to be done to help the economy). Obama who said that Bush's tax cuts caused the recession. (He just signed an extension of the cuts). Obama who said that fighting two wars without funding them caused the recession. (We now have four wars including Libya and Pakistan). Obama who said that not trying the Al-Queada combatants in civilian courts was immoral. (Obama has been engaged in "summary executions" of suspected terrorists in Pakistan without so much as a writ of habeus corupus or an ACLU lawyer present). Obama saying he wanted to preserve good American jobs and have corporations pay taxes and then naming the CEO of GE to head his economic advisor team. (GE paid no taxes on profits of $10 billion and has sent tens of thousands of jobs overseas while laying off American workers).
The list is endless of the absolute hypocrisy of Obama. The fact that SNL has been unable to lampoon Obama in anything other than the most basic and skin deep fashion shows their true bias. SNL is part of the fringe left wing media that has done its best to protect the worst president in U.S. history.
But, in the end it will not matter. Obama will lose re-election and the left wing fringe cannot stop it. The same people who never saw the 2010 congressional tsunami coming are the same people who think Obama will get a second term. Except that the tsunami heading Obama's way will dwarf 2010.
The SNL team has destroyed the image of politicians as something above reality. Both parties have been targeted aggressively as their candidates rise in national recognition. The fact is that SNL takes real issues and the actions of politicians and magnifies both. We get to see the comedy of life. As usual, the Republicans complain vociferously. Democrats don't like it either but they just ignore the situation.
Almost two and a half years into Obama's presidency, and SNL has not managed to do a SINGLE joke at Obama's expense. Not one.
Fred Armisen's impersonation - to the extent that it can even be called an impersonation - never attempts to poke fun, ridicule, marginalize or lampoon Obama the man. Never. Place that impersonation in juxtaposition to the one's done of George Bush, or Reagan or of Dick Cheney, and the differences in tenor and content become clear. The political bias has always been pronounced at SNL, but now the show is nothing less than an in-kind contribution to the Democrat National Party.
SNL is a great show for the perpetually adolescent.
Wow, you couldn't be more wrong.
Bi-Partisan Gusto?? LOL
about the same BI-partisan gusto that JournoPolitico shows in their articles.
SNL has been nothing more than the Lib's satiric arm of NBC for 30 years.
Dear god. Lighten up people, sometimes reading the Politico comment boards I imagine Sam the Eagle dictating imperiously his affronted sensibilities, then some crazed nutjob from either side of the aisle starts spewing a bunch of talking points. SNL really isn't that funny on a regular basis, but so what? When did it become a bad thing to laugh at yourself or a caricature of someone you like? Good grief, carry on.
I think the person who wrote the above comment is the only idiot, or the only one with a bad memory. Don't you understand that comedy works best when it reflects truths about the subject matter? To wit: the real Sarah Palin spent the early part of her VP nominee period ranting on about how Alaska's proximity to Russia was proof-positive of her foreign policy bonafides. When nobody could figure out if she was just being cynical, or actually showing how she conflated her rudimentary grasp of geography with her ignorance about foreign policy, the 'fake' Sarah Palin (the wonderful Tina Fey) boiled it down for all of us in a way that we all thought Sarah Palin really meant: "I can see Russia from my house"...
And the rest is history...
Still infatuated I see..
You actually make some pretty good points in this regard. But I think what you may be missing in your analysis is the fact that Obama never flip-flopped on his stance or his support of these issues. What has happened is he has either comprimised, conceeded or even capitulated to the opposition of his policy approaches on these issues, primarily because of wavering support within his own Democratic Congress. He couldn't get a Dem concensus on Guantanamo; no Dem concensus on the public option; no Dem concensus on civil trials; and unprecedented Repub filibustering prevented movement in other areas of his policy proposals. A president's policies can only go as far as his support in Congress will carry them. And the Dem party paid dearly in 2010 for hedging on the healthcare bill and the stimulus, and the FinReg bill - all bills that eventually became law but were too timid and/or too unfocused in the final form. The stimulus should have been bigger and shorter-term, HCR should have included a public option and been passed in 2009 through reconciliation (as it ended up doing in a much weaker, more aggravating form in 2010), and the FinReg could have captured more federal oversight of the futures and options markets had they acted faster with the Dem supermajority.
Americans like boldness. Hedging your bets simply means you're not confident in your own plan, so why should anyone else be confident in it? This is why Obama now struggles to keep Dems and independents alike strongly in his corner, because he doesn't seem to believe enough in his own convictions to see the fight through for them, before accepting a compromise that pleases nobody on either side.
In my experience, Conservatives can be very funny people (in both senses of the term) Some behave in ways that are ...well... amusing and many have great senses of humor.
In this they aren't much different than Liberals.
The idea that those on the Right are serious grown-ups and those on the Left are childish clowns may be comforting to someone who is not really sure of himself and wants to associate with a group who appear to possess gravitas and maturity. But if seriousness is what you want, perhaps it is undertakers or entomology professors who you should emulate. (actually bug guys can be pretty funny when they want to).
In fact though, most politicians,by the nature of their work, need to have a sense of humor and to be able to tell a joke (often on themselves).
Most would agree that one of the best at this was Ronald Reagan. I would maintain that one of the reasons for RWR's popularity was not that he projected great seriousness but rather that he seemed amiable and likable, that he was confident enough to tell a joke on himself, or come up with a funny line even in a tense moment.
You know what I think is funny? How people on these boards can turn any discussion or comment into an opportunity to lambaste the President.
If someone started a discussion here about recipes for chocolate chip cookies , I am sure it would not take long before someone questioned why Michelle Obama has not baked any in the White House and concluded that it must be because she hates America.
And how is that any different than these and other political forums on the net where the Democrats spent 24/7 attacking President Bush? You don't think all that is simply forgotten by tens of millions of opposition do you?
What's funny is that you don't mention or acknowledge that fact. What's funny is that you seem to forget that the new standard for how we shall conduct ourselves was set by the Democrats during the Bush Presidency where every manner of lie, smear, attack and politics of personal destruction is now the norm. And so the Union continues to splinter and drift evermore apart. Enjoy the new reality you Dems and your Alinsky doctrine has created. One thing for sure, you should have known that life, politics and war are never a one way street. Your opponents will always fight back any way they can and use as many of your own tactics against you as possible. They are fighting for their survival just as much as you think Democrats are fighting for the passed down oppressive and anti-freedom policies of the Soviet Union.
You must be logged in to comment
Not yet a member?
Register Now