Every news show is fair game for parody. Especially parody by Saturday Night Live, which has the second funniest fake Al Sharpton show on television (the first being the one with the actual Al Sharpton.) And as shows go, let’s be honest, Fox and Friends is a target-rich environment. So an SNL parody seems like it would be a perfect fit. Here is what aired last night.
And that bit of unpleasantness is what happens when liberals try to poke fun at their enemies. You see, the Sharpton bit uses genuine comedy because they genuinely like him. So it’s a fun parody. Like their old Olbermann skit starring Ben Affleck, it’s funny cuz it’s true, but also because Olbermann isn’t a dirty filthy Fox host who must be taken down at all costs. They can make fun of the liberals’ quirks, funny delivery, silly camera switching, strident earnestness. But when they turn the lens at perceived conservatives, all they can see is everything they hate about conservatives everywhere, and they go for broke.
When ideology trumps comedy you get … the hackneyed, forced, ugly and painfully unfunny disaster above.
The one redeeming quality was that the impersonation of Steve Doocy was actually pretty good; he had the timing, the delivery, and the mannerisms down. The impersonation of Hasselbeck wasn’t really an impersonation of Hasselbeck at all. It was just random female character 23, played by the cast member with the least range. Even in this bit you could hear her “drama student” character bleeding through. And then there was the Brian Kilmeade … well, I don’t know what you call it. I guess not sounding or acting in any way like the character you are supposed to be playing can be funny. But just portraying someone as stupid isn’t the same as playing the role. It’s boring. There are a million ways to play someone dumb. At least one of them should be a reasonable facsimile of the person being so played. I mean at least try the accent on before you decide not to buy it.
But again, it was more important to portray him as bad than to portray him in a way that was approaching humorous.
But the really objectionable part was making fun of people who have called in to or appeared on Fox News with real problems that have occurred as a result of Obamacare. In the reverse, this would be considered despicable, unthinkable even. Personally I have very few limits on what can be funny. There should be virtually no untouchable subject. But that is not how things operate in this country, for the right. Just imagine if you made jokes about people dying from not having insurance before Obamacare. How do you think that would go over? This ought to have the same reaction. It ought to, I say, but of course it won’t.
What is sad is that they, and the satisfied, smug liberals sitting at home, the “Jon Stewart is my news” crowd, really think this. Harry Reid thinks this. You can bet Obama the ill-informed thinks this. They truly believe these are all trumped up, fake stories, without exception. Only good has come of Obamacare. There is no bad.
Would it do any good to remind them that even Obama himself said there would be problems? That literally every democrat and liberal pundit has trotted out the “kinks” argument at one time or another? And yet when you suggest a kink, a hole in the net, a person that has been screwed over, they call that person a liar and they set out to destroy them. Not ignore, destroy. Victims. In poor health. Destroy.
It’s almost like they want people who are critical of Obamacare to die quickly, isn’t it?
But on the skit went. And don’t even get me started on the myth of the mything polar bears, who are alive and well and in vast abundance. It’s a comedy skit, not science. Which is why global warming was so at home there anyway.
Cause it’s a joke. Get it? A joke!
Ahh. What do you know?
OK, wait, before you go .. there was one more redeeming bit. The corrections were pretty funny. “Don Cheadle does not appear if you say ‘Cheadlejuice’ three times.” Hilarious and, I believe I can speak for everyone here, something we’ve all tried.
Alright, now you can go.