More SNL: The media elite vs. Sarah Palin

posted at 9:00 am on September 22, 2008 by Allahpundit

Think of it as a comic rendering of Saturday night’s quotes of the day. Pretty funny — you’ll laugh, more than once — but not as gratifying as it would have been if they’d zeroed in on the smearmongering. As it is, all you get is the incest line at the beginning and then the rest is mostly an excuse to goof on neurotic Manhattan liberals for being neurotic Manhattan liberals, with Palin as a handy peg.

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Shows how cheap and limited the little minds are SNL have become.

AubieJon on September 22, 2008 at 9:07 AM

Imagine a a sketch of a bunch of white reporters going to Kenya to report on Obama’s family and how they live. Even if they were supposed to be “ignorant racists” asking about polygamy, living in huts with dirt floors and such, the skit itself would be condemned as racist.

Wethal on September 22, 2008 at 9:07 AM

Rotten is much easier than funny.

drjohn on September 22, 2008 at 9:08 AM

After jumping the shark they mated with it. This is the offspring.

bbz123 on September 22, 2008 at 9:10 AM

Darrell Hammond must want to kill himself.

D0WNT0WN on September 22, 2008 at 9:10 AM

Just proves there aren’t enough polar bears to get the job done.

tree hugging sister on September 22, 2008 at 9:10 AM

This could very well be the war room at the DNC!!

grapeknutz on September 22, 2008 at 9:11 AM

What? No Tina Fey? Where’s the Michelle Obama sketch? Now that would be some good material.

bloggless on September 22, 2008 at 9:11 AM

A show with zero relevance now. Probably never had it to begin with, although I watched it as a teen when it first aired so those were the eyes I saw it through.

Tina Feh….

J.J. Sefton on September 22, 2008 at 9:13 AM

I want to know when NBC is going to get called on using Al Franken to “write” an Obama campaign ad into Saturday Night Live (i.e., the McCain skit). That strikes me as being a campaign finance violation and possible illegal coordination with a political campaign (assuming Franken was connected to Obama’s campaign, which I don’t know…)

Outlander on September 22, 2008 at 9:13 AM

those sick bastards at SNL -doesn’t Obama have small children any commet on them.

steviedfromnc on September 22, 2008 at 9:15 AM

Zzzzzz

lodge on September 22, 2008 at 9:15 AM

“okay, then you can leave the room.”

I think they underestimated the number of pre-op trannies that work in the New York Times in that sketch.

And ‘successfully sued for 70 million because she was called: ‘sweetie” was a nice touch.

wise_man on September 22, 2008 at 9:15 AM

I didn’t realize that multiple incest accusations was funny. My mistake.

woodman on September 22, 2008 at 9:16 AM

The “leader” of the NYT journalist team is about the most unfunny guy I’ve ever watched.

lodge on September 22, 2008 at 9:20 AM

Funny how the liberal audience didn’t really get half the material.

The incest nonsense in context is not that horrific, even if it is in bad taste.

Valiant on September 22, 2008 at 9:21 AM

How does this help Michelle’s children?

darwin on September 22, 2008 at 9:24 AM

I think he was the guest host, lodge.

wise_man on September 22, 2008 at 9:24 AM

I thought this was great. It really showed how out of touch the media elite is with real America. I bet this is only a slight exaggeration. I work in media, and I can say that it’s rare to meet a big city reporter who has ever fired a gun.

fleiter on September 22, 2008 at 9:27 AM

That one bit about the picture of the shotgun was spot on.

smfoushee on September 22, 2008 at 9:33 AM

Do these people get paid?

ctmom on September 22, 2008 at 9:35 AM

That was almost unwatchable. That was some seriously bad acting and writing. Ugggh. To have such a mockworthy election and no professional comedics to mock them for us. Sigh. I guess we’ll have to mock the comedians ourselves.

Jewel on September 22, 2008 at 9:36 AM

I see all these negative comments about the sketch… On the other hand, I don’t even think these were actors. I think they actually had a hidden camera in the NYT editorial board room.

CC

CapedConservative on September 22, 2008 at 9:42 AM

What’s funny is that this is not really satire,it is much closer to reality than Obama’s claim that he has enough experience to be President of the United States.

Just look at what Mr.57 states has spent most of his few years in the Senate voting “present” more than 130 times and
running for President calls his main accomplishment,being a
community organizer:

What Did Obama Do As A Community Organizer?
And is it really a qualification to be president?
http://article.nationalreview.com/print/?q=OWMxNGUxZWJjYzg1NjA0MTlmZDZmMjUwZGU3ZjAwNmU=

Has any of that brought about the change Obama spoke of back in 1985? Not in any large sense. But if Obama doesn’t have much to show for his years as an organizer, it’s fair to say that many of the people he touched revere him deeply. Remember what Loretta Augustine-Herron said: Obama had such a powerful presence that he made her believe he could do the job, even though there was little in his résumé to suggest he could. Does that sound familiar to anyone who has watched the Obama campaign? When hope is the product, Obama can sell it with the best of them.

I wonder if these super intelligent media elites will have
time to tear themselves away from the incredibly important
revelation that the McCains own many cars(this wealth was a sign of success when talking about John Kerry’s many houses
and cars,Edwards 25,000 sq.ft. house,or the Kennedy’s wealth) to cover Obama’s lying to scare senior citizens.

Scaring Seniors
September 19, 2008
Updated: September 20, 2008
http://www.factcheck.org/elections-2008/scaring_seniors.html

An Obama-Biden ad says McCain supports “cutting benefits in half” for Social Security recipients. False!

Baxter Greene on September 22, 2008 at 9:42 AM

Lighten up, folks. The skit skewered the right people. What made it so funny is that the portrayal of the Times “reporters wasn’t all that far from the truth. Go back and review it again at the beginning and you will notice that the mention of incest from the pre-op tranny reporter elicited less than enthusiastic laughter and even a couple of groans.

That is why it’s so easy and so deicious to poke fun at liberals: there is so much material to work with.

ManlyRash on September 22, 2008 at 9:47 AM

SNL was funny… once. It made fun of liberals and conservatives, once. Now it is propaganda. I’m done with it. I’ve watched my last SNL.

Star20 on September 22, 2008 at 9:49 AM

Damn.

Kinda funny.

I got the feeling that the audience felt like they were being made fun of as well. Which they were.

Not very flattering to the Times or the New York set.

I give at a marginal OK.

MT
A resident of America’s Hat.™

Mistahtibbs on September 22, 2008 at 9:49 AM

ManlyRash.

Good call there.

MT
A resident of America’s Hat.™

Mistahtibbs on September 22, 2008 at 9:50 AM

I think a catch-and-release program for Polar Bears that lets them go at 49th and Fifth is sounding like a pretty good idea…

gridlock2 on September 22, 2008 at 9:54 AM

I thought that was funny. I laughed several times. Especially at the Nordic track/Derringer guy.

Spirit of 1776 on September 22, 2008 at 9:56 AM

Seemed to me that SNL was trying to be fair and balanced by showing a skit about how elite the media has become. The acting was not the best, but typical for SNL.

I thought it hit on some points that only the right would understand and find it funny, as I did, and that the left would be the ones finding it not funny, but I guess I was wrong.

WoosterOh on September 22, 2008 at 10:02 AM

It was funny in places.

It would have been more funny if there was some satire in it.

Playing the Times people straight left something to be desired.

cozmo on September 22, 2008 at 10:03 AM

I enjoyed it. SNL would like to think they’re playing to a more hip audience, but obviously from the studio audience reactions, that’s not always the case. They try to stretch themselves too thin by making appeals to MTVers, who by that time of day are mostly stoned anyway. It wrecks the show for the rest of the viewers who would prefer satire that reflects commentary on real world events and people – not rappers and ‘beav’-flashers.

whitetop on September 22, 2008 at 10:09 AM

SNL hasn’t been funny since BEFORE Eddie Murphy left….(is that racist? ) wait! That’s a different thread….right right right!!! Never Mind!

Vntnrse on September 22, 2008 at 10:21 AM

Andrew Sullivan’s vain. He probably doesn’t know this skit is about him, he’s so vain….

Mr. Joe on September 22, 2008 at 10:22 AM

Actually the NYTs skit is satire, but the problem is it was buried in the show after everyone went to bed.

And there are the completely dishonest like Sullivan who would use it as a jumping off point to slander Palin some more.

Mr. Joe on September 22, 2008 at 10:23 AM

Watched 2 Episodes this year so far….

Obama Jokes: ZERO
Biden Jokes: ZERO

Bad Palin jokes……about a dozen

Bring it on SNL: Show your stuff by parody of ALL 4 Candidates…

You have to admit, the 4 top candidates provide some of the best material for parody ever.

But then again, maybe it would just be easier to mock Sarah Palin’s husband and daughters (I thought family was of limits)

Dpet on September 22, 2008 at 10:24 AM

Darrell Hammond must want to kill himself.

D0WNT0WN on September 22, 2008 at 9:10 AM

Actually, he still tours the country in clubs quite a bit, even during the season. He continues to parlay his fame from SNL into an estimable following, and still draws a nice paycheck from the show. Would you leave? God Bless America.

Captain Scarlet on September 22, 2008 at 10:25 AM

That one bit about the picture of the shotgun was spot on.
smfoushee on September 22, 2008 at 9:33 AM

‘I think the full name of that is a ‘Smith and Wesson 357 magnum! – or a saturday night special! Or a zip gun!’

Quite.

wise_man on September 22, 2008 at 10:26 AM

I was watching a bit of the Emmy’s last night and could not but notice slam after slam after slam by idiotic celebrities making idiotic comments about Sarah Palin, until I finally got to the point that I said the hell with it and shut the TV off.

I am now sick and tired of seeing Hollyweird’s elite trying to sway this election this year with their own personal jackass renditions of oh how terrible things will be with McCain/Palin in office, while at the same time they wrap their arms around a guy that they know very little about, very little about his own political background,( how he is so tied in with the Chicago Democrat Political Machine that it is not funny), and whose only known quality is that he knows how to make flowery speeches.

On that basis, I have decided that this Fall’s new exciting TV season is a great time to catch up on my reading, and will therefore NOT being watching any of the shows that have actors and such who seem to feel this country is better off being run by an empty suit than by a military veteran and war hero who has been in Washington since 1982.

I would urge others to follow suit.

pilamaye on September 22, 2008 at 10:38 AM

“Is it some sort of baptizing machine?”

Delicious.

automatthew on September 22, 2008 at 10:40 AM

What’s “jernererlerlism”?

Shy Guy on September 22, 2008 at 10:41 AM

Theoretically, SNL uses the excuse that whoever is tops in the news gets the SNL treatment.
That means that Obama and Biden are bombing, not worthy of SNL attention.
Theoretically.

—–
And bad press is better than no press. (Theoretically.) It keeps one on the minds of those watching or reading it.
Imagine if Palin wasn`t on the Republican ticket; Palin has taken so much time and front page headlines away from the One, he has to in pop political celebrity has-been shellshock.
Palin has buried Biden; the only press Biden gets is his latest foot-in-the-mouth gaffe.

albill on September 22, 2008 at 10:42 AM

I thought that was funny. I laughed several times. Especially at the Nordic track/Derringer guy.

Spirit of 1776 on September 22, 2008 at 9:56 AM

That guy was painful to watch. But, then again, its probably because it reminds me of my own worst tendencies.
I got the impression that the guy giving the lecture was supposed to be the only “normal” person in the room.

Count to 10 on September 22, 2008 at 10:50 AM

Could you IMAGINE the fun that you could have doing parody and Satire on OBAMA?

He is practically a walking cliche…..

What about his friends + wife?

At this point in 1992, Phil Hartman WAS Bill Clinton…in a running suit, eating Burgers + Fries as he campaigned.

Dpet on September 22, 2008 at 10:50 AM

I did chuckle at Polar Bear guy’s questions. Between him and Mr Know-It-All, there were a few laughs in there.

darury on September 22, 2008 at 10:53 AM

I was watching a bit of the Emmy’s last night and could not but notice slam after slam after slam by idiotic celebrities making idiotic comments about Sarah Palin…

pilamaye on September 22, 2008 at 10:38 AM

Yes, one that I thought was particularly irritating was the exchange between Colbert and Stewart, wherein Colbert was eating a bag of prunes and through inuendo, made several tasteless references to McCain’s age. I wonder what the response from the Hollywood celebratards would be if he was eating water mellon and fried chicken?

Syd B. on September 22, 2008 at 11:05 AM

I thought it was reasonably funny. It was skewering the NYSlimes and if anything the skit understated the ignorance and slime purveyors at that and other publications. The Slimes was really just a stand in for the LMSM with PDS.
While the skit could have been funnier it was at least an attempt to prick the bubble of the obamatons in the media.
This should be encouraged even if the skit had a malicious smear in it (alleged incest), at least it showed the extremity and maliciousness of the people making it, and thereby deflated the smear.

eaglewingz08 on September 22, 2008 at 11:07 AM

SNL = A mental disorder

byteshredder on September 22, 2008 at 11:21 AM

HAD TO LAUGH ,SICK HUMOUR,BUT FUNNY.

Marines for Mccain on September 22, 2008 at 11:47 AM

Ho-hum.
Listened to half of it…not even a courtesy laugh.
This group of SNLers is the worst ever.

Christine on September 22, 2008 at 11:51 AM

If you want something funnier, here’s McCain singing Streisand.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=i0cfh3dn5r8

You’ll understand if you go through the full skit. It hurts but in a good way, and is hilarious.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=i0cfh3dn5r8

eaglewingz08 on September 22, 2008 at 12:01 PM

I thought it was funny.

I agree the acting and the script were both rough- almost like they were doing something that departed from normal… oh right, making fun of liberals is a departure from normal.

Sackett on September 22, 2008 at 12:01 PM

Sorry the link posted twice. Hope you enjoy.

eaglewingz08 on September 22, 2008 at 12:02 PM

Americans should demand that SNL producer Lorne Michaels appear onstage at the start of next week’s show and make an abject apology for those incest ‘jokes’. You can be sure they would have to apologize if they had made a similar joke about Obama and his daughters….
Hopefully many ‘Heroes’ and ‘L&O’ fans will write to NBC.com and let them know that we will Not be watching NBC this fall.

auzerais on September 22, 2008 at 12:22 PM

I also like that everything they didn’t recognize was “A semi-automatic assault rifle” XD

apollyonbob on September 22, 2008 at 12:26 PM

Video’s down… SNL on YouTube is almost by definition a temporary thing.

Mr Michael on September 22, 2008 at 12:44 PM

Yep….FUBAR vid

Anyone got an alternative linky?

LimeyGeek on September 22, 2008 at 1:04 PM

Rush is on this now, of course focusing on the incest aspect.

Valiant on September 22, 2008 at 1:24 PM

I don’t want to “lighten up” over this. What is it about an otherwise happy, Christian family that draws this kind of vulgar ridicule from the Left? Todd Palin is a role model for fathers, even in his admissions that he’s not perfect. Is he supposed to laugh about this? SNL used to be funny (a long time ago). Now it’s just CRAP. Here’s a question: If the Palin family were devout Muslims, would they be facing this kind of unwarranted ridicule and contempt? The Left ruins (or tries to ruin) everything it touches, through its cynicism, its vile perversions and its unhinged contempt for everything normal.

sgt_rich on September 22, 2008 at 1:53 PM

Oh please. Have a sense of humor! The sketch completely skewered the liberal East Coast media. Even the incest joke was in that context and it was hilarious. Let’s not be as hyper-sensitive as those on the Left!

Still pretty telling that SNL will parody the media and John McCain and Sarah Palin and Hillary Clinton, but won’t lay a glove on The One himself. I almost wonder if they are trying to find a black comedian to come on and play Obama. They got hammered in the lefty circles last year for having Fred Armisen playing Obama.

Also, Darrell Hammond does a terrible McCain impersonation. I think all of SNL’s campaign sketches won’t have the impact they have in the past because the impersonations simply are not as funny. Hammond’s Bill Clinton and Al Gore were awesome. Will Ferrell’s W was hysterical. Hammond did a pretty good Dick Cheney too.

rockmom on September 22, 2008 at 1:54 PM

sgt_rich on September 22, 2008 at 1:53 PM

Come on, last year SNL did a short film portraying Ahmadinejad as gay. They let John McCain come on twice for very funny sketches. They do a good job most of the time. Nobody’s perfect.

rockmom on September 22, 2008 at 1:57 PM

I thought the skit was hilarious, but that’s my opinion.

Cr4sh Dummy on September 22, 2008 at 1:58 PM

I think people are missing the point on the incest joke. It was aimed at the NYT for being so sleazy as to make such an assumption. And there really were rumors going around that Todd had fathered Trig with Bristol. I know–gross, but there were lefties out there actually saying that.

I loved the part at the end where the reporter won the Pulitzer Prize for his series on the “not yet proven, but not disproven” allegations of incest. It’s totally a shot at the new “standards” the media are operating on–just throwing out a sleazy rumor with no credible basis and challenging the victim to disprove it.

I think the delivery of the skit could have been better, but it’s a aimed squarely at the media, and it’s very, very pro-Palin.

SNL does have one conservative writer, and Lorne Michaels is a McCain supporter. $2300. That’s how these conservative pieces sneak onto the show.

juliesa on September 22, 2008 at 2:15 PM

Lorne Michaels gave $2300 to McCain’s campaign.

juliesa on September 22, 2008 at 2:16 PM

This skit went too far. It would have been possible to ridicule East Coast liberals without injecting the “incest” subtext into the skit. Now we have to deal with the inevitable perpetuation of that slur.

sgt_rich on September 22, 2008 at 2:21 PM

Palomino!

That was a good skit.

juliesa on September 22, 2008 at 2:21 PM

“we’re sorry, this video is no longer available”

Why is NBC such a bunch of bitches? It’s like they have a team of people waiting to get stuff pulled from YouTube. They need to get with the times.

RightWinged on September 22, 2008 at 3:33 PM

This “joke” would never, never, ever be considered if you put Obama and his daughters in the place of the Palins. This is shameful, and sickening. I can’t believe how low class, low brow the culture has become to air this trash.

This skit went too far. It would have been possible to ridicule East Coast liberals without injecting the “incest” subtext into the skit. Now we have to deal with the inevitable perpetuation of that slur.

sgt_rich on September 22, 2008 at 2:21 PM

Exactly. The image and idea has been implanted, that’s all they wanted to do. When you think of this skit, what do you remember, that East Coast liberals are being ridiculed, or the idea that Todd Palin might be screwing his daughters?

nyrofan on September 22, 2008 at 3:45 PM

“we’re sorry, this video is no longer available”

Why is NBC such a bunch of bitches? It’s like they have a team of people waiting to get stuff pulled from YouTube. They need to get with the times.

RightWinged on September 22, 2008 at 3:33 PM

That’s why the are the Dinosaur Media. Cheer up. When they die off, we’ll be drilling their brains for oil!

Mr_Magoo on September 22, 2008 at 5:14 PM

Marginally clever conceit, ham-handed delivery.

Not impressed. Grossed out, really.

spmat on September 22, 2008 at 10:06 PM

Another lame skit.
Really low and grotesque in the humor of Palin’s family even if it was making a point of the silliness of the reporters.
Biden is a gaffe machine, yet nothing on him.
Obama is an idiot and a gaffer, nothing on him.

jencab on September 22, 2008 at 10:16 PM