Posted on 02/17/2017 5:35:56 AM PST by Kaslin
The New York Times was correct in 2011 when it proclaimed that "Saturday Night Live" has no equal "when it comes to stamping a politician in the public consciousness." Republican politicians like former Gov. Sarah Palin were described as incapable of escaping the "SNL" treatment, and voters actually thought Palin uttered Tina Fey's satirical line "I can see Russia from my house."
And yet, the NBC show couldn't seem to locate a comedic angle on President Barack Obama, as the Times noted after his third year in office. He came into the White House as his impersonator Fred Armisen lamely spoke over a cool jazz beat: "I take my kids to school,/ I don't lose my temper,/ It's my only rule/ I keep it cool."
Hilarious it was not. It reeked of adoration.
In 2012, "SNL" writer Jim Downey was still declaring Obama mockery impossible. He said: "Obama doesn't give you much to grab onto. He's like a smooth rock face of perfect obsidian with no ledges or toeholds, and your job is to scale 200 feet of it."
"SNL" boss Lorne Michaels routinely -- and ridiculously -- claims the show is nonpartisan. This came even after two cast members quite seriously sang the '60s ballad "To Sir, With Love" to a picture of Obama the night after Trump's inauguration. After finishing the song, they broke out a mug reading "World's Greatest President."
Two weeks later, "SNL" lurched in the opposite direction, this time with a dark and very unfunny portrayal of Trump senior adviser Kellyanne Conway as the psychopathic Glenn Close character in "Fatal Attraction." Her love interest in the skit is CNN's Jake Tapper. The fake Conway writhed and moaned in a sexual way about forcing Tapper to put her on television. He surrenders after she holds a knife to his throat, but then she accidentally falls out the window to her death, only to peel herself off the sidewalk and pull herself together like a horror movie monster as she says grotesquely: "I only have three lives left. See you on the news!"
Reaction wasn't positive. "Prediction: the White House will use that sexist skit to dismiss all criticisms of Conway and lying more broadly," tweeted liberal Daily Beast writer Olivia Nuzzi. She also said: "Casting Kellyanne Conway as Glenn Close was a miscalculation on SNL's part. Will be interpreted as unfair and mean to a wife and mother."
Other liberals agreed. NBC's own Andrea Mitchell said it was "Not Right." The New York Times found that the skit was unfocused with a "queasy edge of sexism."
On Monday morning, ABC brought on leftist Muslim comedian Dean Obeidallah to praise the skit as empowering for liberals. He said: "I think it was actually really well done, and I think in today's day and age, comedy is cathartic. We need to be laughing at the Trump administration. For those people who don't like the Trump administration, it's a release and makes you feel good. I think it's empowering."
ABC reporter Jonathan Karl disagreed. "I don't think it was funny. It seemed to be incredibly mean-spirited. This is somebody who has young children," he said. "What makes SNL so funny is when they cut a little bit towards the truth. That was just not an accurate portrayal of Conway. I mean, she is somebody who actually is pushed to do more television by the president. ... She has many more requests to go on television than those that she actually accepts. "
For months now, the media have thrown every kind of screwball at Conway, but she keeps hitting everything out of the park. They loathe her, and now they're trying to ruin her.
Alec Baldwin and "SNL" have been poking fun at Trump mercilessly for months. Hard-hitting? Of course. Funny? You better believe it. Trump's supporters -- and President Trump himself -- should laugh. But what is being done to Kellyanne Conway is no laughing matter. "SNL" needs to cut it out.
I haven’t watched SNL since way back when it was funny.
SNL Yawn!
It's not that they couldn't, there was plenty of material to work with. It is that they didn't want to destroy one of their own.
But as I said in another thread, I though the two skits with Melissa McCarthy as Sean Spicer were hilarious.
And since the election, they've done several skits all with the theme of liberal white people trying to understand the struggle of blacks, while the blacks just shake their heads in disbelief.
This season there was a short film with a bunch of liberals living in their own left wing utopia domed city, with everything just the way liberals like it, until you get to the very end where they say apartments start at $1.5 million, and there is no fire or police protection because they couldn't find anyone to take the jobs.
Then of course there was the skit several years ago depicting George Soros as "Owner, Democratic Party."
They know where the target rich environments are, but they also don't want to take out their own kind. But once in a while they just can't help themselves.
SNL is as passe as doing the bump at discos.
What's a SNL? Sounds slimy.
There are a few New York Marxist that still think people watch that show. That is all.
SNL who??
You mean SNL => “Snot Nosed Liberals”?
Ditto. And that has been a VERY long time.
I’m thinking the 1970s . . .
I used to record it to watch later but at some point I recognized I was just watching it because I assumed something funny would happen...at that point I deleted the timer!!! Same with Jimmie Kimbel and Jimmie Fallon.....Trump bashing at some point is just not funny!!
Leftards and NE media “conservatives” watch it. Apart from that....
About two weeks ago I gave up on SNL completely. Lately the skits that were not politics were just crewed&rude. I remember watching that last episode for a half hour and thinking- “Why am I watching this? I’ve not laughed even once.”
Woah! Mega-Phagg alert!!!!!!!!!!
I've been watching it a little since the election out of morbid curiosity, yeah I know. Shamu the whale's Sean Spicer that everyone is raving about was actually pretty amusing. Hadn't seen a minute of it for a few years before Trump hosted it last year (I can't believe in hindsight that they let him). I don't think they hardly ever made fun of Obama, I couldn't even tell you who played him after the non-Black Fred Armisen.
I find the lesbo Kate McMinnon (who plays Kellyanne, and Shillery) attractive. She even made Liz Warren hot. And her Merkel who's horny for Obama.
Her Jeff Sessions though (yes, really), no, looked like Ross Perot.
Kellyanne they first played as like a reluctant Trump backer who hates herself or something. Then they switched to "crazy". The skit the article is talking about was a "Fatal Attraction" parody, it was stupid but she looked hot.
Alec Baldwin is AWFUL as Trump, he keeps doing this weird fish mouth lip thing that I have never noticed Trump do. They had a skit where the mannish Black woman wanted to play Trump and put on a wig and everything, SCARY.
There was one really funny post-Armisen sketch I recall, the one doing the "School House Rock" parody with Obama shoving "Immigration Bill" out of the way with his pal "Executive Order". Jay Pharoah played Obama there. I thought his impersonation was good, he got Obama's smug arrogance down pat:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JUDSeb2zHQ0 a
>> I find the lesbo Kate McMinnon (who plays Kellyanne, and Shillery) attractive. She even made Liz Warren hot. <<
Weird, I didn't know Kate McMinnon was a lez. If so, I agree she deserves to be in the "hottest lesbians" category", along with Ellen Page and late 80s/early 90s Jodie Foster (though I don't think Jodie had "come out" back then)
>> Her Jeff Sessions though (yes, really), no, looked like Ross Perot. <<
I haven't seen the Sean Spicer sketch. Having her do Jeff Sessions does sound awful. Sometimes having comedic actors do parodies in drag can be hilarious though, like when John Goodman played Linda Tripp (Goodman also did a good Rex Tillerson) >> Alec Baldwin is AWFUL as Trump <<
Funny, I usually LOATHE Baldwin even when he's in "good" movies like Hunt for the Red October, but I found his Trump parody (playing Trump trying to act totally in control and having all the answers when he's really clueless about government) to be hilarious. The Baldwin-as-Trump sketches are extremely funny to me. You and I also had the opposite reaction with the Will Ferrell as George W. Bush stuff, you thought it was really amusing and I thought Ferrell was awful and didn't sound or act anything like Bush but merely portrayed him as "generic stupid guy". Timothy Bottoms, on the other hand, did an excellent Bush -- both in comedic parodies and in serious dramatic reenactments.
You would be very surprised how attractive some lesbians are. Very attractive.
Yet nobody seems to remember ANY Carter parodies on SNL.
I googled it and it looks like Dan Aykroyd portrayed him, badly. (and I usually love Dan Aykroyd parodies-- he was hilarious doing Jack Webb-- but he looked and sounded nothing like Carter) Wow, can't believe SNL missed the boat on that one. SNL from 1977-1980 is usually considered the show's golden age.
In 2012, "SNL" writer Jim Downey was still declaring Obama mockery impossible. He said: "Obama doesn't give you much to grab onto. He's like a smooth rock face of perfect obsidian with no ledges or toeholds, and your job is to scale 200 feet of it."
What a joke that arrogant pos former occupant of 1600 Pennsylvania Ave was. Talking to 6th graders via a telepromter. And naturally the drive-by media was silent.
Disclaimer: Opinions posted on Free Republic are those of the individual posters and do not necessarily represent the opinion of Free Republic or its management. All materials posted herein are protected by copyright law and the exemption for fair use of copyrighted works.