I don’t cover the Saturday Night Live shtick very often for a couple of reasons. I’m an old guy who goes to bed early and the show is simply on too late at night. (And yes, you can get off my lawn now, thank you very much.) It’s also pretty much entirely one sided most of the time, supporting liberal causes and politicians while piling on conservatives with abandon. But every once in a while they come up with something from the other side of the fence to keep things even and it actually winds up being funny.
Last night was one of those rare exceptions where the show’s cold open featured a skit with Bernie Sanders and Hillary Clinton meeting up in a Los Angeles bar at closing time. The actors they have playing the Democratic candidates this year (Kate McKinnon as Hillary and Larry David as Bernie) really pull off their impersonations well and the writing has been top notch for many of the skits I’ve seen them in. This one delivered on the same level, as the candidate’s drunken bar stool musings get completely out of hand.
In one particularly good moment, after guffawing over how Sanders told people he was sick and tired of hearing about her damn emails (“That could have taken me down!” she replies) Clinton brings up the topic of of the rigged primary.
Clinton: And remember all those states like Wyoming where you beat me by a lot but then I still got most of the delegates?
Sanders: Oh my God! That was so stupid! It’s rigged!
Clinton: Yeah, it’s so rigged!
Sanders: (Raising his beer) To Debbie Wasserman-Schultz!
Clinton: To Debbie!
Considering that Sanders just endorsed the DNC Chair’s opponent in the primary and said that she would no longer hold that national position if he becomes president, that’s going to be a particularly stinging segment for Debbie to watch today. (And you can bet that somebody on cable news will play it for her so she can comment.)
The choreographed dance routine between the two “candidates” which follows their exchange at the bar is a sight to behold. I may be a jaded old Republican who wouldn’t vote for Hillary Clinton if the alternative was spending two years in a cell with Rachel Maddow, but even I was laughing out loud by the end of it.
Take a look for yourself.
Election years are always Saturday Night Live’s peak ratings season and this one is no exception thus far. At least it gives us something to look at besides the latest polls.
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