Yesterday’s buzz from Mitt Romney’s interview with ABC’s Diane Sawyer involved his willingness to consider an appearance on NBC’s Saturday Night Live, and whether or not the Republican nominee was stepping into a trap. Don’t worry, Republicans — Romney has made an impossible demand to ensure that he has an escape hatch. The skit would have to be funny:
In an exclusive interview with ABC’s Diane Sawyer, Romney denied he had already been approached to appear on the show, but said he thought a gig on sketch show sounded “like a lot of fun.”
Romney said he was still deciding whether to appear SNL, which almost weekly skewers the presumptive GOP nominee.
“I haven’t made a decision on that, just heard about it,” he told “World News” anchor Diane Sawyer in an exclusive interview today when asked about the show’s invite. “Of course it would depend on the nature of the skit. I want it to be funny.”
I kid, I kid. SNL is occasionally funny, and it’s at least possible that they could work something up for a Romney appearance that would be (a) hilarious, and (b) non-derogatory. It’s just not terribly likely, and even if he approves of the skit, who knows what will come afterward?
That’s not to say that Romney should reject the idea out of hand, though. As he notes in the interview, American voters don’t really know much about him on a personal level, even after five uninterrupted years of national media coverage in presidential politics, and two decades in public policy. Making an appearance on SNL and engaging in a little soft self-deprecation could do wonders for his ability to connect on a personal level with the younger late-night comedy audience. Since the Obama administration has already begun painting him as an uber-wealthy One Percenter stiff, a little bit of relaxed joshing might just be the ticket — as long as that’s all that takes place.
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