SNL "VP Debate Spoof" Review
Saturday Night Live’s opening scene Saturday night was a VP Debate spoof. It’s funny and I laughed from beginning to end. I should probably disclose, though I can’t imagine it is a secret, that I’m a Christian who has very conservative Republican views and, of course, view life through that lens.
I woke up this [Saturday] morning and instantly pulled up the SNL web site to watch Tina Fey and crew poke fun at Sarah Palin and, ultimately, me. Why? Because it is funny! Because it’s a spoof.
The first spoof two weeks ago with Hilary Clinton was hilarious. The Couric-Interview Spoof was equally funny. Honestly, if it is funny (and not crude), then I can definitely laugh and enjoy it. I watched the “Live From New York…” opening-segment starring Tina and Queen Latifah…and I laughed throughout the entire clip (except when they slammed Bristol Palin).
Toni, my wife, came in the room at the very end of the segment and asked to watch it. First I warned her about the Bristol-marriage slam and I restarted the clip. She laughed, but not as heartily as I had. However, that second time I watched the clip wasn’t quite as funny. Oh, I still laughed, but I began noticing that the majority of jokes were aimed at my party, my ideals. Even Biden’s jokes had anti-McCain or Palin sentiment.
The jokes of Palin included poking at her language, her belief in maverick-ness, her NRA association, debate prep with 3rd graders from Alaska, and isn’t-there-a-talent-section hit on her Miss Congeniality YouTube.com videos that circulated the Internet this week.
Biden’s first two joke-sections were about whether John McCain was friend or foe and the “demeaning Scranton” section, but that didn’t make fun of Biden. The only SNL poke at Biden was the mid-debate flip-flop regarding gay and heterosexual couples.
Okay, I’m going to watch it one more time and give my final thoughts: SNL VP Debate Spoof
Wow, I just realized this was nearly a 12-minute clip which is more than a quarter of the entire show and double the length of the first two weeks’ spoofs.
Yep, Biden’s words are used to make fun of his friendship with John McCain and his hometowns, and Palin’s words were used to make fun of herself and her own views. I didn’t laugh the third viewing until Ellen was brought up and “the talent portion” was still laugh-out-loud for me.
Actually, I think the gay marriage joke was a direct statement from SNL to the Obama campaign.
My SNL Spoof Suggestions
I wish we could have enjoyed some Biden moments. Here is some fodder they could have used for creative motivation (quotation marks are not intended as direct quotes but to summarize the message) — sources: Newsweek and a Katie Couric interview segment with commentary
Biden “we should not bail out AIG” — Obama “we shouldn’t second guess government”
Obama Ad “McCain can’t even send email” — Biden “terrible” and “we should never have done it.”
Biden “I and Obama do not support clean coal” in America — Obama “supports clean coal”
Obama “95% of people get a tax break” — Biden “its time to be patriotic and pay more taxes”
During his Katie Couric interview when he stated a leader needs to know what he’s talking about to instill confidence like when the stock market crashed and FDR got on TV and said ‘here’s what happened’ (Hoover was the president and televisions, though invented, were only in experimental stages)
Biden himself, made the best joke of all at the Democratic Primary Debate on being a “Gaff Machine”
SNL did a great job of spoofing Sarah Palin, and Gwen Ifle, they did not spoof Joe Biden. Political incorrectness aside…it was funny! And if I can’t laugh at myself and my candidate’s short-comings, I’d be no different from the SNL writers I’ve just criticized.