Posted on 09/20/2008 7:27:18 PM PDT by Free ThinkerNY
Al Franken, the former Saturday Night Live star now running in a high-profile Senate race in Minnesota, helped craft the opening sketch mocking John McCain that is slated to kick off the NBC comedy show tonight, according to two well-placed sources inside the network.
Franken, who hasn’t been a staff writer on the show for 13 years, “phoned in” a spoof of McCain recording campaign ads in an edit booth, said an NBC source. Seth Meyers, the show’s current head writer, wrote it, but the sketch was hatched by Franken, a longtime liberal satirist and comedian.
An SNL insider said that, as of the Wednesday script read-through, Franken was the “credited writer with Meyers” on the opening sketch. Show veteran Darrell Hammond is to play McCain.
Franken’s input to the show blindsided his campaign staff, who have been forced to explain away some of the more crass and profane parts of his past writing and acting that have been used as fodder against him in a state known for its polite manners.
A spokeswoman for Franken, Colleen Murray, first said the Democratic Senate candidate “didn’t write anything for SNL tonight.” But pressed if he was involved in the show or had been in contact with staff members, Murray admitted Franken had a role in tonight’s program.
(Excerpt) Read more at politico.com ...
Crickets chirping as we wait for the skits mocking Barry and Joe..
I am so done with these programs.
I’ve heard Seth Myers interviewed on “lovelines”. He did not strike me as a mindless lefty. He’s good at his job and I’m betting that he’s smart enough to know that lib hate-satire is not going to play in Peoria.
Looks like I’ll be watching SNL tonight, for the first time since the long-ago days of Carvey/Farley/Spade/Lovitz/Hartman..
Oh my my - is that real or photo shop....I hope its photo shop....because i can’t go to sleep now!!!! yikes
This might matter if anyone still watched the show.
NBC is in the tank for Obama.
So NBC is a 527 now? WTH?
No, it’s real.
It’s from a SNL sketch when Al Franken was a guest ‘host’.
I’m sure Franken’s version used the “N” word at least once.
They voted for Mondale.
They root for the Vikings.
The answer to your question is yes.
You know its after 9:30 PM central time. So you can say WTF instead of WTH.
OK. The Freeper sensor will let us slide this time and everytime!
The comments on that video show that Minnesota has a lot of moonbats.
Al Franken has never guest-hosted SNL.
You are correct.
My bad.
Back when Al Franken was a member of the SNL crew.
Is this the same NBC that was oh so careful as to not run episodes of Law & Order featuring Fred Thompson when Thompson declared his candidacy?
I wonder how Franken is faring with McCain in lead in his state.
Is franken using SNL as a personal pseudo527 to try and control damage from a McCain win.
Franken is pathetic to pull this stunt.
It is not the skit, it is the fact he is desperate enough to pull this type of sleaze. This is unworthy of the ideals of the senate.
Well we certainly don’t need to worry about any effectiveness in the satire if Franken’s writing it. ZZZZZZZZZZZZ!
Coleman is only up 4 points- 41-37
I pray this mutt is defeated.
mutt= (franken)
For your own good, be careful SNL...This man Franken is not funny. For your own good.
I wonder what their ratings look like vis a vis Golden Girl reruns.
Contact: NBC.com/SaturdayNightLive.
Contact:www.lornemichaels.com
Hold your powder until you see it, I saw nothing on SNL website that said that Franken would have a shot.
Lorne Michael
c/o Broadway Videos
1619 Broadway
New York, N.Y 1001
Dennis Miller said on his radio show this week that Lorne Michaels will go anywhere for a laugh. Dennis has been in the room when they construct a SNL show and Dennis said there is no bias, it is all for a laugh.
I was a LONG time ago!!!!!!
Doesn’t have to play in Peoria,i’m afraid. This show should have died at least twenty five years ago. I think I may have watched an hour’s worth of it in that time. The bits are too long, too loud, just painful to endure. The opposite of entertainment. NBC is not ashamed. It still does passably in large markets, I guess. The Palin/clinton routine last week got plenty of talk, even on this board.My wife asked me to watch it, and I went along. It wasn’t funny. Sorry, but it was formulaic, as though it was written by a committee.
Television as it is,is such a waste of technology and talent. People like franken are part of the problem.
Just saw it. Lame. Very lame.
Just saw it. Very weak.
Basically it was McCain doing the “I approved” for various TV ads as they were read by a guy with a big sarcastic voice.
It was an attempt to imply that all of McCain’s ads are false or misleading. You know, like the Obama ad that says McCain wants to have troops fighting in Iraq for 100 years, or the one that says McCain wants to cut Social Security benefits by 50%, or the one that takes out of context statements by Rush Limbaugh and ties them to Limbaugh’s buddy, John McCain.
One sample (paraphrasing): “Barack Obama plays basketball. Charles Barkley plays basketball. Is Charles Barkley qualified to be President? He gambled and lost millions in Las Vegas”. McCain turns to the aide and asks if the ad is truthful, the aide notes that Obama and Barkley have played basketball and that Barkley lost money gambling.
You see, the above is witty cutting-edge Al Franken humor that will force you to bust a gut laughing—and help you realize just how evil the McCain ads are.
Pathetic.
Just might be. I might have to honor my, “if Al Franken is voted in, I’m moving out of the state” mantra.
Sidebar: Remember when the bunch of Leftists met at Franken's (including some "journalists" if I recall correctly) during the campaign leading up to the 2004 election?
Hmm. A message written by a candidate for public office, attacking another candidate for public office.
Sounds like a TV COMMERCIAL to me. Will SNL have to report this as an in-kind contribution?
The sketch ended with only three reporters going. We were informed with graphic cards that one was eaten by a polar bear, one humorless feminist reporter sued an Alaska town for $70 million for sexual harassment after a school board member called her "sweetie," and the third won a Pulitzer Prize for his investigative story on unproven, yet not disproven, incest in the Palin family. They were all presented as incredibly arrogant, provincial, elitist snots without the slightest regard for the accuracy of their slanderous reporting.
Best sketch of the year, so far.
I had rather clean toilets or mow the yard instead of watching most of the crap on these days (especially knowing it came from elitist snobs).
They might as well be. All that is missing is the paperwork.
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