Monday, December 15, 2008

As Sammy Davis Jr. Shakes His Head

http://news.yahoo.com/news/us/story/ynews/ynews_en185

Well, seriously, you could see this as offensive, or on the other hand, I suppose we could take it as a sign of how far we've progressed that a black, blind governor can become the new Gerald Ford. Because seriously, I've seen the sketch and it looked to me to be recycled jokes from the 1970s when Chevy Chase was tripping over podiums as Betty Ford's better half. Maybe it's SNL's attempt to go green, since the gags were all 90% post-consumer product. And it's pretty typical of my assessment of the current crop of performers that when they steal from classic Saturday Night Live sketches, they don't even go back and rip off the funny stuff. [FYI - if you're going to crib from the Not Ready For Primetime Players, always go with Dan Ackroyd or John Belushi as the sure thing. Samurai Tailor or the Bass-O-Matic this wasn't.]

I wouldn't take this as any indication of whether it's now okay for comics to take shots at a black politician. Can SNL be funny about race? Better question is, can they be funny at all?

2 comments:

WashingtonGardener said...

YOu know what - funny is funny - and this just wasn't.

FirePhrase said...

There is something to be said for the fact that Americans will forgive some very bad behavior - IF you can be funny. Eddie Murphy made fun of Stevie Wonder and got away with it. But Eddie was at the top of his game back then. These people obiviously think they're funnier than they actually are. Maybe they should stick to easy targets - like George Bush.

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