Over the weekend, “Saturday Night Live” had originally planned to run a cold open featuring Fred Armisen’s President Obama that basically lampooned Obama’s supposed exploitation of the killing of Bin Laden.
“This is a special time of year,” Obama says, “when we gather together with family and friends to commemorate the shooting of this terrorist, and the gutsy decision that made it possible.”
“Unfortunately, I wasn’t able to be at home this year, as I had to fly to Afghanistan, to remind President Karzai that, exactly one year ago, we killed Osama bin Laden and that the decision to do so was a gutsy one — and was mine.”
The skit ultimately was cut in favor of the Fox & Friends sketch, which basically (rightfully) makes fun of Fox News for being dumb, biased, and racist. Naturally, the conservative media — everyone from the National Review to the folks over at Breitbart — is throwing a hissy fit, claiming that “Saturday Night Live” won’t attack Obama during an election year because of the show’s own political biases. Lorne Michaels, however, shot back, asserting that “It wasn’t its politics. It was about the comedy. The show’s many things, but partisan it is not.”
Michaels is part right. I have no doubt it was cut because it wasn’t as funny as the “Fox and Friends” skit because the “Fox and Friends” skit was funny, and Fred Armisen’s impression of Barack Obama almost never is. But the idea that “Saturday Night Live” is not even an eensy bit bias in favor of the liberals is, well, horsesh*t.
Past cast members like Dennis Miller, Victoria Jackson, and apparently Jon Lovitz notwithstanding, the cast of “SNL” typically swings liberal. Liberals have an easier time making fun of conservatives because they believe it, ergo the natural inclination is to poke fun at conservatives instead of making fun of themselves because self-deprecation typically doesn’t work in satire because there’s just too many layers for our small brains to process. It helps that conservatives tend to be easy targets because liberals tend to think that conservatives are hilariously crazy while conservatives tend to think that liberals are dangerously oppressive (the irony is rich, I know). Hilariously crazy is funnier than dangerously oppressive every time.
So why did Lorne Michaels choose the Fox and Friends skit instead of the Obama skit? Because he thought it was funnier. Why did he think it was funnier? Because he’s a liberal. Ask a conservative, and I guarandamntee you that he would find the Obama skit funnier, even if Fred Armisen is the worst Obama impersonator on the planet.
And that, folks, is the very long-winded way of saying: “Saturday Night Live” is not partisan? My ass!
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They’ve done maybe 2 Obama skits this year. I remember one where he was listing all the things the Republicans wouldn’t let him do, and the other was the (awesome but inoffensive) Cosby Show spoof. I’d like to believe it has something to do with the fact that Armisen is just terrible at his impression and they’re just letting Jay Pharaoh practice his for a year before next season, but I think you’re right. They’re clearly sheltering Obama as there’s been no shortage of material. It’s pretty sad. They need to bring in Key & Peele to do Obama skits.
Of course SNL is a little bit biased. And yes, Armisen’s Obama is terrible. But even if they let Jay play Obama, I’m not sure that there’s a way to make Obama as funny as, say, Will Ferrell’s Bush or Tina Fey’s Palin.
I do love Sudekis’ dopey Biden impression, though.
I give Delaware Fellas 3 and a half train whistles!
Pretty accurate on all accounts. Lorne is in arguably the most liberal state in the union, running a show that has it’s roots in the tail end of the hippie era and structured around making fun of the establishment. Of course it’s going to lean left.
He should have just said, “We go where the humor is” and not even address whether he was biased or not. After all, everyone is biased. Everyone.
Nice bait
Would Donald Glover be available to come in on a part-time basis just to do Obama skits?
[www.youtube.com]
Cool, coolcoolcool.
Heres a shocker: most people in entertainment are liberal. GASP.
I’m pretty right of center and thought the Fox News sketch was funny and that Armisen’s impression of Obama is weak (and has gotten weaker with time). The other problem is, Obama is kind of a cold guy and without scandal.
But yeah, the show is partisan. It’s a product of the late ’60s early ’70s, and intentional rebellion against the conservatism of the Carol Burnett show. But the political sketches have been weak for about 7 or 8 years.
I think it is true that Obama simply provides less comedic material than Clinton or Bush. It’s weird, since he is so hated by the right wing in this country, but he hasn’t done much that that you can turn into comedy. I think some imagination is in order, like a sketch on a secret meeting where Obama tries to conceal his origin or something.
Hey guyz, hate to break it to ya, but they don’t make fun of Obama for 1 the reason you just mentioned and 2 He’s black. Also, the media takes it kinda easy on him for the same reason. However, he is still better than Romneybot2000
C’mon, being black makes him easier to make fun of! You’ve got fried chicked and watermelon jokes! THE FUNNIEST KIND OF JOKES!
So will all the posts have a divisive political theme for now on? Or are we sticking to one a day?
All this does is remind me of Rihanna herking and jerking her vagina at me like some sort of robot in ruin. I’ve been too fucking terrified to sleep.
But she’s so EDGY.
And for the record, Dennis Miller didn’t become the conservative he is today until well after he left the show. And I’m pretty sure Victoria Jackson was apolitical entirely during her tenure.
You mean “before her frontal lobotomy”?
I prefer the republicans telling me they are oppressing me to the democrats back door nanny state oppression. Don’t piss in my face and tell me it’s raining
Thanks for your input Phil
Whether they lean to the left or the right is not the issue. The issue is how they thought it was a good idea to have Robyn appear as musical guest in 2012. That was just terrible. Just really really bad. Someone should be addressing this.
Or that boy band that had those haircuts that made them look like they had penises for heads.
/get off my lawn
@mrejr8234 Though SNL might be more comfortable making fun of a black guy if they didn’t for some reason have a white dude do all their minority impressions.
it boggles my mind they the show hired Jay Pharaoh, who is famous for his Obama impression, and black, and keep having a white dude who is not funny at it do the impression.
I think that little battle is about seniority. Armisen was already doing his Obama impression before Pharaoh joined the show, and they generally don’t switch impressions mid-stream, unless the cast member leaves.
Generally.
WHY WON’T FRED ARMISEN LEAVE!?!?!?
Armisen is funny, the writers just don’t use him. He can be as good, or better as a straight-man than Olivia Wilde-bangin Jason Sudekis.
Hilariously crazy is funnier than dangerously oppressive every time
There’s definitely something to this. Conservatives like Bush Jr. and Palin are ripe targets for the kind of “Haha look at these bumbling fools” humor that can be played up for good natured laughs on SNL. But if you really want to dig at Obama you’d have to base a skit on, say, liberals ignoring his killing people with drone strikes that they were ready to riot in the streets over when Bush did the same thing. Pretty hard thing to laugh at.
Or the NDAA.
Good point.
That’s a good point, actually.
Obama’s tough just because he’s such a conservative (in the non-political sense of the word) guy. There are no obvious tics or malapropisms or unlikeable things about him (aside from his policies if you don’t like them). Conservatives have tried to joke about the teleprompter thing, but it doesn’t seem like a joke that has much traction.
Now, SNL could do a lot more about Pelosi, Reid, and liberal commentators I suppose.
All of this argument about partisanship ignores the basic fact that SNL hasn’t been funny for a long ass time.
I consider myself a moderate republican and think they made the right call between the two sketches. I thought the fox and friends was one of the better opens this year. That said, it’s asinine for Michaels to even suggest the show isn’t partisan.
I think the other issue is that Obama doesn’t provide that much material. I’m curious if anyone remembers how they treated Clinton during ’96? The show was merciless with him in his second term (the lewinsky thing, mcdonalds)- curious if they went after him as hard prior to the election.
See, I’m pretty moderate myself and yeah I thought the Fox and Friends skit was funny but honestly? They NEED to make fun of Obama more if they want to maintain some credibility.
Lorne Michaels claims it’s about the comedy and in his mind it probably is but this is the same show that once did a skit where Obama turned into the Rock and beat up a bunch of Conservative politicians. If SNL wants to be a liberal show, I’m okay with that. If I got upset at every show with a liberal bias I would have nothing to watch on TV. But don’t tell me you’re non-biased and then kick me in the balls.
There were some allusions to his philandering before Monica (since he had several accusations before that – Paula Jones, Gennifer Flowers). There was a sketch where Madonna sang Clinton “Happy Birthday” a la Marilyn Monroe. There was a sketch where Clinton offered Russia aid if Boris Yeltsin let him sleep with his wife.
Yes, there is an obvious bias on SNL, but they’re not really supposed to be unbiased. People write comedy from a perspective and for a audience, obviously, the writing staff at SNL knows who their audience is.
And we all know that. The problem is Michaels is claiming that they aren’t.
Its not the bias, its the lying that bugs us.
Time to get the PoFlaWa started:
Obama is a liberal-socialist-islamofascist-anarcho-capitalist-stalinist nazi marxist. It’s irrefutable.
/Strife, glorious strife.
Nah, WWTD_Observer…..is……gone……
No wonder SNL has been terrible for 20 years. Lorne Michaels clearly hasn’t watched an SNL episode in decades if he thinks SNL isn’t partisan. What’s next? John Stewart saing he’s bias?
“Hilariously crazy is funnier than dangerously oppressive every time”
True, but ridiculously smug and self-righteous without a hint of self-awareness (Lorne Michaels, Bill Mahr, like half the liberals in Hollywood, ect.) has some pretty great comedic potential as well that no one besides the South Park guys ever try and tap.
@Boston, good point about seniority. I guess I just find it weird they ever choose Fred do the impression. Or any impression for that matter.
@Chazz:
I think Phil Hartman’s sketches about clinton before he was even elected in 1992 made fun of him for being an alcoholic poon-hound. I couldn’t find any of those sketches, but here is hartman in episode 8 of season 18 (so shortly after he took office his first term) doing one of the McDonald’s sketches you mentioned: [www.hulu.com]
I vaguely remember them being pretty hard of Jimmy Carter as well with Ackroyd’s impression of him.
I think maybe @GlennBeckHasAIDS has a good point that Obama hasn’t had short comings lately that can easily be spun into humor.
And the Bush sketches weren’t really about his policies, more about him just being dumb in general.
SNL has made fun of liberal commentators like Keith Olberman and Chris Matthews quite a bit.
I would say that both sides think the other is dangerously oppressive while the middle is more like “you both are effing crazy”
Hear hear.
FWIW, the head political writer Jim Downey, who writes pretty much all their political stuff, used to be registered as a Republican (I believe switched in ’08). Granted, he’s a fiscally conservative, socially liberal who probably hates the current GOP, but he’s not exactly a tree-hugger.
He’s also the principal in Billy Madison who gives that epic response, “I award you no points, and may God have mercy on your soul.”
Fox and Friends is pretty silly, but I’d rather have someone write about Fox/SNL who doesn’t believe Roger Ailes is Hitler.
I don’t know if the Obama skit would’ve been funnier (most likely not), but it would be refreshing to see SNL make fun of the President. I can think of the last time they had a cold open sketch doing so and that had to be at least a year old.
This review is horseshit.
The bash democrats all the time when they are given material to work with. Do we not remember the Bush/Gore debates? The entire Clinton administration? Howard Dean? Probably some pretty harsh John Kerry stuff (I didn’t watch during that time period, but I’m sure they lampooned him).
There’s just nothing absurd going on with the Obama administration.
Dustin just took a dump in a box and stamped guarandamntee on it.
Homosexual, reasonably funny Jon Lovitz is a conservative? That’s weird. Anyway, this article is correct.
He’s not a conservative. He was on a podcast or something with Kevin Smith and went off on how ridiculous and hypocritical Obama’s tax policies are.
Right. Lovitz is a democrat, but he’s also rich so he doesn’t like the government wanting more of his money.
Mel Gibson might have an addendum to make to this point.
the fuck? Jon Lovitz is gay? Srsly?
Ah, thanks for the clarification guys. And yes local, he’s gay. I think he came out publicly a couple years ago. Much was made of it on one of them Comedy Central roasts.
[wiki.answers.com]
WHY WOULD THEY LIE?!?!
Hmm… now that I’ve tried looking it up, I’m very confused. I could’ve sworn there was some story about him being gay a couple years ago. I guess I must’ve confused him with George Takei or something.
The problem with SNL isn’t that it’s biased. It certainly is biased, though they do take their fair share of shots at liberals. The problem with SNL is that it’s just not funny anymore. You want a show that’s definitely more left-leaning yet still funny? Try The Daily Show. Yeah, they also shit on liberals a fair amount but it definitely does lean more to the left, which is reflective of Jon Stewart’s politics. However, it’s still funny. Can the same be said for Colbert’s show? Not so much.
TFBuckFutterThere’s just nothing absurd going on with the Obama administration.
[youtu.be]
Point to something recent, in the Obama administration, that is absurd and could be handled comically without coming across as just bitter complaining.
“TFBuckFutter”, your bias is showing!
It’s because conservatives aren’t funny.
Seriously, compare Hicks or Carlin or Patton Oswalt or Louis CK or any other famous comedian to the comedians who identify as conservatives and the gap is massive. Hell, compare the Fox News versions of comedy hours that always fail.
This guy for instance: [www.youtube.com]
Or this guy: [www.youtube.com]
Conservatives are just simply not funny. Part of that is because the best humour is based on real life, and conservatives hate reality.
Great article. Keep up the work!