SNL Attempts to Stay in the News Post-Election

Posted by Michael Dance

I was happy to see Saturday Night Live back on top during the ramp-up to the presidential election. It had a quiet few years, then became relevant again with Andy Samberg's YouTube-ready Digital Shorts, but no one could've anticipated how big it exploded as soon as they brought Tina Fey back to play Sarah Palin.

The problem is that the election is over, Palin's a memory, Fey is back to doing 30 Rock, and cast member Fred Armisen's Obama impression isn't even that good. (He's got the mannerisms but not the charisma.) So where does that leave SNL?

Well, still doing political sketches, but lowering the bar a bit. Last Saturday, Armisen played New York governor David Paterson in a Weekend Update segment with Seth Meyers and Amy Poehler. Though officially, "Paterson" was supposed to be making jokes about Illinois governor Rod Blagojevich, the sketch was basically a big set of very lowbrow blind jokes (in real life, Paterson is half-blind).

The National Federation of the Blind complained about the skit, while a rep for Paterson classily stated, "The governor is sure that Saturday Night Live, with all of its talent, can find a way to be funny without being offensive." And of course now there are dozens of "Did they go too far?" articles online.

Thus SNL has won back some of its publicity, although it might not be the kind they were hoping for. Check out the skit for yourself:

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SNL Attempts to Stay in the News Post-Election

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