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Saturday Night Live: A New Low?

Saturday Night Live achieved a new low on Saturday evening's show.

I admit I tuned in because I was anxious to see what their take on the VP debate was. I also admit that I thought the producers did an equal job of poking fun at both VP candidates Palin and Biden.

I realize that Saturday Night Live has often made fun of people because of their weight (the wide end family or mom's pants fitting differently than other people's pants), but their political satires are usual right on target. They perform characateurs and manage to single out a few key elements of a person's look, mannerisms, or speech to really have a good time at someone else's expense. I usually enjoy the humor.

Saturday night though I was surprised at how low the humor was when a segment was presented about The Lawrence Welk Show, and in particular, the Lennon Sisters.

The Lennon Sisters were four sisters who performed on the Welk show for several years in the early to mid sixties. They were pretty, had great harmony, and seemed to be sweet women.

On the most recent episode of Saturday Night Live, the "humor" was supposed to be about one of the sisters who had a deformed head with hair growing back further than usual, and small, deformed hands. Having lived through the sixties, I am aware of a condition that caused thousands of deformities in births due to mothers being prescribed a medication for morning sickness called thalidomide. Thalidomide Babies (as they came to be called) had several serious birth defects which included short, flipper- like limbs.

I had not witnessed anything quite as repulsive on the show before.

Is it socially acceptable to make fun of people with disabilities these days?

Has the American Disabilities Act been in vain? Saturday Night Live has hit a new low.....

By Ronda Miller

October 5, 2008

At Random

From the Citizen Journalism Academy

Discussion

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5 October 2008
at 8:38 p.m.

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Logan72 (Alia Ahmed) says…

Ronda,

I didn't see all of SNL but like you, tuned in to see their “replay” of the debate. I didn't see the segment you are describing, but thought when I read the first part of your blog, you might be referring to all their jokes about the worldest heaviest man getting married.
5 October 2008
at 8:49 p.m.

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justbegintowrite (Ronda Miller) says…

Good point, Alia. Odd how I had forgotten that! Very crude. I really don't remember them hitting so hard in the past. Am I just looking at things differently as I age or what?

What do the rest of you think? Is SNL getting out of control? Are we more or less tolerant?

I was also offended by Jay Leno one evening last week in reference to Ellen about breast cancer awareness. He was making a sexual joke about volunteering to check women's breasts for them. Maybe as I age, I have experienced friends being hurt by things like cancer, and coming close to dying because of procedures to lose weight - they tend to lose their humor….

A friend of mine said he was offended today because he saw a car named, “Avalanche” and he thought how horrible that would be for someone to see if they had someone they knew killed in an avalanche. It would be rather like naming a car suicide.
5 October 2008
at 8:51 p.m.

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thebcman (Anonymous) says…

if you don't like what is on the channel you are watching .. change it. there are plenty of others to watch.
5 October 2008
at 8:57 p.m.

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justbegintowrite (Ronda Miller) says…

I absolutely agree, theabcman. There is always abc for example. I am just asking if times they are a changin, or if I am a changin? And if any of you are a changin. How about it, abc, are you changing?
5 October 2008
at 10:06 p.m.

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PapaB (Anonymous) says…

It was the “Merrill” sisters, not Lennon, even though the Lennon sisters were mentioned. I laughed hysterically at the skit, especially since they made the character SO deformed that it was obvious they weren't making fun of anyone or any disease in particular.

A high forehead, messed-up teeth, plastic baby doll hands, and eating roadkill = funny and safely going too far to avoid being related to any real condition.

I think this is just a case of being easily offended. I think SNL has gotten a lot less personal and actually funnier since Tina Fey left (as head writer) and Seth Myers took over. The skits are more fun, where Tina Fey was auditioning for her own version of the Daily Show (minus the funny).
5 October 2008
at 10:46 p.m.

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Mixolydian (Anonymous) says…

Rachel Dratch did the re-absorbed conjoined twin bit years ago. She had a little arm sticking out of her head, 3 teeth and a bucket of drool. I didn't think it was offensive, it just wasn't funny. I didn't catch the Merrill sisters, but it sounds like more of the same.

I thought Tina Fey and Amy Poehler were the best WU anchors since Jane Curtain and Dan Ackroyd.
5 October 2008
at 10:47 p.m.

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Pywacket (Anonymous) says…

Goodness, Ronda. Please do not turn on South Park or anything on Adult Swim (late evenings on the Cartoon Channel), such as The Oblongs, Squidbillies, Sealab 2020, etc… You'll have an attack of the vapors.

Humor is very individual and very complex. Humor (especially at anything exaggerated, such as human qualities or physical characteristics) can help allay fears about that which we do not understand. Humor can be a societal barometer; things we feel are most threatening or scary—death, disease and other physical challenges, people of vastly different backgrounds, and other “unfathomables” are the very things that appear most often in humor.

Humor is also relative—as an example, most of us wouldn't dream of concocting a joke about a very recent or very close calamity. The farther removed we are from the victims in proximity and in time, the more jokes begin to surface about it.

For some, nothing is off limits within some context or other. For others, for lack of a better term, “political correctness” dictates that any humor that might possibly offend anyone should be denounced and reviled. Those at that extreme are the root of such insipid and falsely positive children's shows as “Barney,” while hating classic fare such as Looney Toons, the original Tom & Jerry, and their ilk.

Most of us (including you, I expect) are at neither extreme, but find ourselves somewhere along the continuum. When someone offers humor that hits your squirm level, it is probably just some notches farther along the continuum. We can say we didn't like or enjoy it—but can we say it was “wrong” of them to present it?

Hard to say… I guess as far as TV goes, writers & comedians learn from ratings and public feedback whether their humorous offerings are acceptable or have gone too far in the context of public broadcast. If more people laughed than felt offended, they will probably feel safe to continue offering that sort of humor.
5 October 2008
at 10:59 p.m.

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BigPrune (Anonymous) says…

Do people actually think Saturday Night Live is still funny? IMO It hasn't been funny in years.

When Dan Akroyd, John Belushi, Chevy Chase, Bill Murray, and Gilda Radner with an occasional appearance by Father Guido Sarducci - now those were the funny years. Even when Eddie Murphy was on it, it wasn't THAT funny. Joe Piscopo played a great Frank Sinatra and Eddie Murphy did an even better job impersonating Stevie Wonder- I'll never forget the Ebony and Ivory rendition between Murphy and Piscopo, it went something like this…………http://video.aol.com/video-detail/parodie-eddie-murphy-and-joe-piscopo/3788307231
5 October 2008
at 11:30 p.m.

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Newell_Post (Anonymous) says…

Where, oh where, is the Bass-O-Matic when we really need it?
5 October 2008
at 11:38 p.m.

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BigPrune (Anonymous) says…

The Bass-O-Matic, who can forget it?
http://www.jibjab.com/view/172241
5 October 2008
at 11:58 p.m.

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Newell_Post (Anonymous) says…

Is it too late for McCain to drop Palin and just get Tina Fey as his running mate?
6 October 2008
at 1:14 a.m.

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my_2_cents (Anonymous) says…

Funny, I remember there used to be a skit on SNL about “head wound Harry.” Around that time, my father's cancer spread to his brain, and there were many bad times as his mental capacity diminished rapidly. My siblings and I used humor to cope with the real tragedy of losing our father, only 46 years of age, to a devastating disease. We would tell each other stories of the crazy things he would do or say, due to the brain tumor, referring to Dad as Head Wound Larry. We knew people outside the family would not understand, but somehow the humor helped us through the last year of his life.
6 October 2008
at 2:14 a.m.

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laphroaig (Anonymous) says…

prune: we do we're just a different generation. We have new comedians. And if you want you can still buy the old dvds. Satire for a new generation, what a concept
6 October 2008
at 5:58 a.m.

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myvotecounts (Anonymous) says…

For the last couple of years I've thought SNL had slipped into another unfunny period. I don't think any of Amy Poehler's Hillary or any of Poehler's other characters are funny. A Hillary character should be very funny, but hers wasn't to me. What a waste of potential comedy material. Interestingly, I thought the sketches this week were good, and particularly the Biden/Palin debate and the bailout.
6 October 2008
at 6:14 a.m.

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oldvet (Anonymous) says…

I think you have it pretty well, Ronda… society seems to hit new lows every year. Hollywood pumps the sewer lines and people lap it up…
6 October 2008
at 6:37 a.m.

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BuffyloGal (Anonymous) says…

I haven't watched SNL in at least 15 years so I cannot comment on how it stands at the moment. I do however find myself thinking about Lisa Lupner every time I hear Palin talk about her husband Todd. Must be the accent!
6 October 2008
at 7:45 a.m.

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preebo (Anonymous) says…

SNL's take on the debate was s-a-t-i-r-e. It is in no way official political analysis. Rhonda, where is your sense of humor? There was very little in implicit content. The skits involving Gov. Sarah Palin have used suprisingly little in the way of “artistic liscense.” Most of the content was provided by the candidate herself. I would surmise that the “lifeline” comment from the Couric interview spoof and the “talent portion” from the debate skit were the only explicit examples of SNL taking certain liberties with Palin's performances. Other than that, these were fairly accurate public portrayals, but nevertheless, s-a-t-i-r-e.
6 October 2008
at 8:02 a.m.

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fandango12 (Anonymous) says…

I don't know that it's socially acceptable to make fun of people now days but there's no clear barameter. I do believe the Pywacket hit it spot on as I reflect on my own and my childrens' sense of humor and it has changed over the years. I remember my kids getting a kick out of booger and poop jokes. Later on it was dirty jokes. I have always leaned toward slap-stick. Now, why would it be funny to me to see someone trip and nearly fall then look around to see who was watching? I don't know. It simply is. On the other hand, when my brother was trying to speak to me one day while his head was turned, I mimmicked a deaf person as I “play” signed and mimmicked their speech. He nearly dropped to the floor laughing. I normally don't make fun of disabilities but I suppose I was showing off and trying to be a funny as my brother.

I don't watch SNL. I don't find it funny. I'm so glad I have a choice via the remote. That is, when SOMEone in our household doesn't have the remote clinched in his hand flipping between football games and golf!
6 October 2008
at 8:31 a.m.

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Logan72 (Alia Ahmed) says…

preebo,

I think you might have missed what Ronda's concern was about SNL. She said she thought the debate skit was funny and even-handed. She didn't think the skit making fun of someone with a disability was funny.

I think Pywacket makes a good point about the wide variations in what constitutes humor. There is definitely a cultural component also. When I lived in Pakistan and we tried to translate jokes back and forth from Urdu to English, the humor was often lost in the translation. But, I don't think it was necessarily related to language, since most Pakistanis are fairly fluent in English. I think we may be encultured as to what is in bounds and what is out of bounds in terms of humor. It's not always about wider cultural norms, but what humor is acceptable in our family, our church, our political affiliation or region of the country. There are often misunderstandings when politicians or other well known people try to use humor, especially on the cuff.

When I worked in the emergency department, there was a fair amount of gallows humor employed there. To an outsider, it may seem insensitive. To the person using gallows humor, it may be a way to cope with some fairly traumatic cases. I think we do have to be sensitive to how our humor affects other people.

One of my favorite jokes is “Why don't cannibals eat clowns?”……….

“Because they taste funny.”

No offense meant to clowns or cannibals.
6 October 2008
at 8:31 a.m.

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justbegintowrite (Ronda Miller) says…

Pye, great comment. I agree with you and fan about how humor changes over the years and I certainly understand my_2_cents when he/she talks about using humor to get through a difficult time. In situations such as that you use all your resources in whatever capacity that might be.

I remember the potty joke humor when my children were small also - and for some odd reason the men in my family seem never to outgrow their appreciation of this humor. I guess I personally feel it is in bad taste to make fun of people with disabilities.

PapaB, As to the comments about arms out of heads, missing teeth being so over the top that they wouldn't be making fun of anyone, have you read about the disabilities that the drug I mentioned caused?

preebo - I am not sure what your point is? I stated I enjoyed watching SNL's satire and that was why I had tuned in. Where are we in disagreement? I was speaking specifically about an episode later in the show where fun is poked at a deformed singer.
6 October 2008
at 8:34 a.m.

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justbegintowrite (Ronda Miller) says…

alia, you were posting as I was. I agree with your assessment of what I was saying about the show. Thanks!

Yes, joking between cultures can be interesting at times. And to whomever mentioned staying away from SouthPark and similar shows, trust me, I don't go there. That isn't to say I wouldn't think some of it is funny, but mostly because I don't have the time. My sense of humor borders on the absurd and I usually enjoy dark humor also.
6 October 2008
at 8:44 a.m.

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mmiller (Anonymous) says…

Ronda,

I did see SNL. Your concerns are valid. I'm not sure how to comment on this, but I must admit that I did laugh when I saw that skit. It cracked me up.

Would I ever poke fun at another person's disability? Absoultely not. No way. I am a very compassionate, caring guy.

Perhaps it's my Jim Carrey sense of humor that justifies my laughing at those skits. My wild, crazy and at times, raunch sense of humor, gets me through the day.
It's a form of therapy for me!
6 October 2008
at 8:52 a.m.

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acg (Anonymous) says…

my2cents, I remember Massive Headwound Harry. That s**t used to crack me up! SNL is great. It's lost something over the years, sure, but I don't see it as offensive. But then again, I find people are way more offended than they should be. What's the point? Are you a thalidomide baby? If not, why are you wasting your energy being offended for another demographic? Maybe they weren't offended. Have u ever thought of that? I know a person with down's syndrome who absolutely loves retarded person jokes. Whenever I see her we trade jokes and she gives just as good as she gets.
6 October 2008
at 9:08 a.m.

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justbegintowrite (Ronda Miller) says…

mmiller, I agree with you about Jim Carrey, and in particular his early movies. My son did a great imitation of being born from a rhino (is that correct) when he was quite young. Too, too funny. Hey, have you made your move yet? Humor, it is what it is.

acg, you sound like a barrel of fun. Sometimes it is helpful for people to get upset - that is how things get changed
6 October 2008
at 9:41 a.m.

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Mr_Nancy_Boy_To_You (Tom Shewmon) says…

Agree with BigPrune above….like about 90% of so called comedy or comedy/talk…..just not real funny.

They're all promoting a liberal agenda through what's supposed to be comedy. Remember “The Carol Burnett Show”? They were hilarious and it was just slapstick. Now with the buffoons like Jon Stewart, David Letterman and Bill Maher, they are political activists and just not funny. You can not watch a movie or anything for that matter without the writers and producers injecting their left wing agenda, even sometimes as subtle as it may be. I get sick of it.

These lousy shows and personalities seem to be gather their scripting material from the far-left blogosphere.
6 October 2008
at 10:02 a.m.

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broddie (Anonymous) says…

SNL has always been a hit-or-miss affair. The Belusih/Akroyd had it's share of sophomoric, tasteless, and just plain NOT funny segments.
6 October 2008
at 10:17 a.m.

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acg (Anonymous) says…

How is it helpful to get upset? Can you change the situation? Are you going to start a grass roots movement to stop people from laughing at or making jokes at the expense of others? No, even if you did, it wouldn't get far because people laugh at inappropriate things. That's how alot of folks deal with the sad, negative and uncomfortable parts of life. Wasting ones energy being offended at words is ridiculous. Why be offended at words when you can be offended by people's actions? That makes way more sense.
6 October 2008
at 10:44 a.m.

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justbegintowrite (Ronda Miller) says…

acg, I agree with some of what you are saying, but people can and do change things through talk. Maybe that is one of the reasons we have that ability. Through talking we can and do tell someone if they are doing something that upsets us - they then are left with the choice to either change their behavior or not. I believe this is called communication. Everyone has an opinion - that is what these blogs are about. It may be useless in your opinion to talk - maybe it is useless for some to make fun of people who are disadvantaged for whatever reason. I am sure you can think of an example of at some point being offended in your life.

I loved Carol and Lucy - they were funny without putting other people down in a cruell way. They did make fun of themselves and there was quite a bit of slapstick involved.
6 October 2008
at 10:51 a.m.

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BigAl (Anonymous) says…

Tom, you are just full of hate this morning. But, you have the right-wing talking points down pat:
1. Blame the press
2. Blame Hollywood

But, but Clinton……..

Actually, I find Letterman and Jon Stewart funny. They also poke fun at themselves. Letterman is NOT a political activist. Just because he doesn't drink at the trough with Fox News doesn't make him an activist.
6 October 2008
at 12:03 p.m.

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justbegintowrite (Ronda Miller) says…

Now I can't refer to BigPrune just as Big now or there might be confusion. I enjoy most comedians most of the time, but I am not wild about Comedy Central. Letterman certainly does not come across as an activist. He reminds me quite a bit of Johnny Carson who was tops in making fun of himself and doing outrageous skits and characters.
6 October 2008
at 12:18 p.m.

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rodentgirl16 (Anonymous) says…

I always thought “Massive Headwound Harry” was disgusting, especially when the dog would come and lick his head. Harry was played by Dana Carvey. I thought it was much worse than a lot of stuff they have now (well, except for maybe the family that regurgitated food for Will Ferrell's character a couple of years ago).
6 October 2008
at 1 p.m.

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acg (Anonymous) says…

Actually, Ronda, no I can't recall ever being offended at someone's words. And not all of us want things to change. This world has become entirely too PC as it is. Most folks are walking around with this chip of righteous indignation on their shoulders being offended at everything and for those of us that like to laugh, it's annoying as all get out. I've said this before. Making fun of someone who has a flipper (and as Ron White would say “I'll touch his flipper, I just need to be warned first”) doesn't offend me. I don't think it would, even if I had a flipper. The things that offend me are child rape and molestation, lax verdicts for violent offenders, illegal wars and unnecessary murder, that sort of stuff. If I come across something on the tube or in the paper that's supposed to have some sort of entertainment value and its not entertaining to me, I change the channel or put down the paper and voila! Problem solved. No offense, no moral outrage, no getting my panties into a twist. It's a waste of my energy. Now, for those of you that are going to change the world, one mind at a time, good luck with that.
6 October 2008
at 1:02 p.m.

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kansascrone (Virginia Rigney) says…

tom shewman says: These lousy shows and personalities seem to be gather their scripting material from the far-left blogosphere.

when asked why the left doesn't have a counter to fox news, bill o'rielly, rush limbaugh and their ilk; my son said it best when he answered, “we do - only we call it commedy.”
6 October 2008
at 1:03 p.m.

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Mixolydian (Anonymous) says…

Al Franken and Tom Davis used to regularly do the head wound skit. It was one of their better skits. I saw them do it live in Topeka in the early 80's, back when Franken was actually funny.
6 October 2008
at 1:09 p.m.

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logicsound04 (Anonymous) says…

“Now with the buffoons like Jon Stewart, David Letterman and Bill Maher, they are political activists and just not funny.”

–––-

Sounds like the common theme is your sense of humor (or lack thereof) Tommy Boy.

Maybe you prefer things like Limbaugh's impression of a person with Parkinson's Disease?
6 October 2008
at 1:51 p.m.

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beatrice (Anonymous) says…

Hey you kids — get off my lawn!
6 October 2008
at 2:59 p.m.

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kmat (Anonymous) says…

I saw the skit and thought it was funny. I used to be a special ed teacher and am used to dealing with people with special needs and didn't think this was offensive at all.

I agree with other posters here that if you don't like what's on tv, change the channel. Everyone will find something that offends them and we all have the right to not watch it.

If offensive comedic material wasn't allowed, then we would have never had Monty Python, SNL wouldn't have been put on the air, etc….

Ronda - you'd really be offended by BBC programming. The political correctness fad hasn't taken over Europe and they love offensive material. Glad I can at least get BBC America now and get a small taste of it.

Everyone needs to lighten up. And if you want to watch the sketch that has upset some people, it's posted on the SNL website.
6 October 2008
at 4:24 p.m.

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tangential_reasoners_anonymous (Anonymous) says…

Ronda: “I guess I personally feel it is in bad taste to make fun of people with disabilities.”

Maybe your *impairment* is the perception that we are laughing *at* them rather than laughing *with* them.

( Hey, if we couldn't laugh, we'd surely cry. )

Cripple fight!

Timmy!
6 October 2008
at 7:12 p.m.

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fandango12 (Anonymous) says…

kmat: I had forgotten about bbc. i love bbc comedy. Ronda, you have your hands full with this lot. What varying amount of opinion and usage of vocabulary. It's wonderful to see intelligence. I'm glad I tripped into your blogs.
6 October 2008
at 9:20 p.m.

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trishlovesdolphins (Anonymous) says…

SNL has a LONG hysterical history of satire. It's not done to make fun of a specific group, merely done so to make people laugh. If you're familiar with comedian Josh Blue, he has CP. A lot of his jokes are centered around that. The jokes that were made in that sketch would have been just as funny IMO if they had been said by another character. It's nothing new:
Will Ferrel had a character who couldn't control his voice volume.
Tom Hanks had a character who couldn't remember things from minute to minute.
Chris Farley's entire career on SNL was based on his weight.
Dana Carvey had Lyle, the Effeminate man.
SNL has always been a show that walks the line between inappropriate and funny. It's what they are known for. That's why millions of people tune in every week. That's why I tune in every week. Sure, sometimes they go a bit far, however, that's what freedom of speech is about. If you don't like the program, you can just turn the channel.
6 October 2008
at 11:39 p.m.

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Akreed (Anonymous) says…

It was actually nice to read something that had nothing to do with the election and/or candidates! Kudos to Ronda and those that even commented on it intelligently without bringing up the election or candidates. To those that didn't, there are plenty of other articles (too many quite frankly) that you can spewn your left wing/right wing/whatever wing opinions on. You don't have to stink up every thread with your arm chair political analyst bullsh*t.
7 October 2008
at 6:39 a.m.

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Left_handed (Anonymous) says…

Mmmm, that's good bass.
7 October 2008
at 7:25 a.m.

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DonQuipunch (Anonymous) says…

It's Saturday Night Live.

Get over it, then get over yourself. Just because something offends you doesn't mean it needs to be taken off of the air for everyone else.

If you don't like it, change the channel.
7 October 2008
at 8:40 a.m.

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justbegintowrite (Ronda Miller) says…

Don, I don't think anyone is saying it needs to be taken off the air - I didn't make that suggestion. And I do know how to change the channel. Just a blog, just a discussion about comedy, but I appreciate that you took the time to come on and leave your viewpoint behind. :)

Akreed, I am one of those who loves to “discuss” politics, but I agree with you that at this point and time I love to have a discussion about anything else! Of course I say that knowing I'll have the debate to watch this evening.

fandango, you are right, this is a fun crowd who express their views well. I am thankful that people not only feel free to do just that on my posts, but that as a whole we live in a society that encourages the climate for doing so. Then of course we thank the World Company for giving us this space also.

acg, I understand your point of view and tange while I agree that a lot of people with disabilities do and are able to laugh at themselves, the people who love them might find it less than funny. We all have a line to draw with what seems confortable for us, and it is a distinctly different line for each mind. Ain't life grand!
7 October 2008
at 8:51 a.m.

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jd (Anonymous) says…

truth is SNL hasn't been funny since John Belushi was a samuraii … or maybe Eddie Murphy as James Brown in a hot tub with Dr. Joyce Brothers
7 October 2008
at 8:58 a.m.

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jd (Anonymous) says…

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Jdjv5Z…
7 October 2008
at 12:32 p.m.

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justbegintowrite (Ronda Miller) says…

jd, well that certainly lightened the discussion by tons! I remember watching that segment the first time it aired and it was just as funny now as it was then. Eddie Murphy rocks as James Brown - and they both rocked on their own. Thanks, jd!
7 October 2008
at 5:43 p.m.

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itiswhatitis (Anonymous) says…

As a high school junior, I remember when my brother came home from his first semester at college and told me about this show called Saturday Night Live. We stayed up and watched it, and I did not get it at all. If you guys think back to the early days of snl, it was difficult to draw a stright line between what the characters did and a conventional “punchline”. Many of the characters were only funny as they appeared again and again. You really had to watch the show regularly to “get” a lot of the humor. Now, don't get me wrong, some of the stuff was just plain funny. Gilda Radner as hard of hearing comentator Emily Latela wondering why everyone was so upset about endangered “feces”, was one of my favorites. Is that considered making fun of the disabled? In the ensuing years, snl grew in fame and in it's ability to bring in money. Of course this meant more money for the cast and the network. It could no longer remaine a quirky, off-beat show with a loyal cult-like following. The laughs had to come faster and the jokes had to be a little more obvious. Seriously, in this day and age, a sketch about “two wild and crazy guys” looking for american women with “large breast” would not get a second chance. Those charactes only got really funny the second, third or fourth time you saw them. Did the sketch make fun of immigrents?

Two points, one, we tend to have reletively short and sometimes really bad memories when it comes to how things used to be. snl mocked everyone and everything, but they did it with a certain style. Almost any topic can be fair game in the hands of skilled writers and actors.

Second, several posts made reference to the humor from the “right” or the “left”. When it comes to political humor, it is all a matter of whose ox is being gored. No matter how much you disagree with him, Rush Limbaugh can be extremely funny. Yes, he can be insensitive, but one of the reasons he makes liberals so angry is that he is so effective at combining his point of view with humor. It is hard for a lot liberals to admit that he is more than a loud-mouthed, hate mongering, bigot, and it would be esier to ignore him if he was. And conservatives, if you watch the Daily Show or Colbert Report and don't laugh, then you are taking yourself waaaayyy too seriously!!

I apologize for any errors in spelling or grammer!
7 October 2008
at 11:10 p.m.

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chargdup (Anonymous) says…

The man SNL made fun of died on Tuesday:

http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/27074699/
7 October 2008
at 11:11 p.m.

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chargdup (Anonymous) says…

Sorry, I meant about the world's heaviest man.
8 October 2008
at 9:05 a.m.

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justbegintowrite (Ronda Miller) says…

itis, thanks for the well written comments. I agree that the original SNL so many years ago had humor that was perhaps more obscure and that it did take some time before it presented itself as funny - although some was nailed immediately. Humor, not unlike beauty, is certainly in the eye and mind of the beholder, observer, viewer. We are so uniquely different in our tastes and I would imagine in part this is influenced by our life experiences, our cultural upbringing, and that genetic mix thrown in. I have read studies that suggest fairly strongly that twins separated at birth find the same things funny - like a sneeze or something obsure such as this. Interesting stuff.

chargedup, thanks for the link. I don't find people who are overweight, obese, excessively thin, and numerous other things that have to do with body images, or missing body parts funny. Maybe because as a child I was extremely skinny. It is interesting to me how the “bully” aspect of people can come out in comedy. Some of the things done on SNL wouldn't be acceptable in grade school or junior high, but it is on prime time television. Hummmm…….
8 October 2008
at 9:14 a.m.

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justbegintowrite (Ronda Miller) says…

Manuel Uribe is the gentleman who is supposed to wed his girlfriend later this month - I believe he was the one that was being made fun of on SNL. The person who died knew him, but was named Garza. Correct me if I am wrong.
8 October 2008
at 10:21 a.m.

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TheEleventhStephanie (Anonymous) says…

Political correctness if very un-funny.
8 October 2008
at 5:36 p.m.

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SMe (Anonymous) says…

SNL? Tasteless, crass and crude for years. Even South Park is more socially acceptable.
10 October 2008
at 9:19 a.m.

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justbegintowrite (Ronda Miller) says…

SMe, wow, that is one interesting statement! I haven't watched South Park much, but hear it is pretty far out!
12 October 2008
at 2:07 p.m.

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jimincountry (Anonymous) says…

The general diminution of civility/courtesy in society seems to me to parallel the rise in acceptance/popularity of SNL-type humor………….for that matter the vulgarity in language and all entertainment also seems on the rise.