PAGE 14A
Laredo Morning Times
Sunday, October 22, 2000
POLITICS
Saturday Night Live skit impressions tend to stick
BY LEIGH STROPE
Associated Press Writer
WASHINGTON — Gerald
Ford, klutz. George Bush, goofy
smile and a thousand points of
light. Bob Dole, cranky. Bill
Clinton, McDonald’s glutton.
Now add to the list: Al Gore,
know-it-all. George W. Bush,
dumb as rocks.
Partly thanks to “Saturday
Night Live,” political images
become
embedded
in
Americans’ minds.
So try as they might to be
touchy-feely with Oprah, to trade
barbs with Leno and Letterman
or to appear presidential with
Larry King, the lasting TV
impressions — pardon the pun
— of Bush and Gore may be out
of their hands.
“‘Saturday Night Live’ picks on
the foibles and most negative
stereotypes of the candidates
that come out in the news and
reinforces them,” said Bob
Lichter, president of the Center
for Media and Public Affairs,
which tracks late-night talk show
jokes about the candidates.
Bush leads — if that’s the word
— with 465 jokes to Gore’s 322.
The “SNL” impressions, played
out in skits, tend to stick more
than late-night jokes, Lichter
said.
Gore got a look at a buffoonish
version of himself recently when
aides played him a tape of the
NBC-TV show’s first debate
sketch. “A few less sighs,
absolutely,” he pledged before
the second debate.
Both candidates apparently
recognize “SNL’s” impact. Gore
and Bush taped appearances
Thursday for the show’s twohour prime-time political special,
“Presidential Bash 2000,” that
will air Nov. 5.
On the show, Bush starts out
making fun of his mispronunciations.
“When they asked me to help
introduce tonight’s special, I felt,
frankly, ambilavent. Although I’m
a big fan, I have seen some
things on the show that were, in
a word, offensible.”
Several times, Gore reacts to
Bush with eye rolls and exaggerated puffs and sighs.
About 9 percent of Americans
get their news about the presidential campaign from late-night
talk shows such as those of Jay
Leno and David Letterman, a
study by the Pew Research
Center for the People & the
Press says. About 6 percent
pick up election news from comedy shows such as “Saturday
Night Live” and “Politically
Incorrect.”
But for people under age 30,
the numbers jump significantly.
Nearly half get political information from late-night talk shows,
and 37 percent list “SNL” and
comedy shows.
After all, what is more likely to
come up in conversation, Gore’s
Social Security plan or comedian Darrell Hammond’s impression of a know-it-all Gore and his
often-repeated “lock-box” — in a
Tennessee twang like he’s talking to kindergartners?
“That’s the only humor out of
this campaign,” said Robert
Schmuhl, Notre Dame professor
of American studies who has
taught courses on political
humor. “Because the election is
close, the candidates are not
being overly risky, and usually
humor involves risk.”
Hammond’s Gore and Will
Ferrell’s dimwitted Bush in the
first debate parody were seen by
7.1 million people, while the first
real presidential debate Oct. 3
had 46.5 million viewers,
according to Nielsen Media
Research. The second and third
debates had more than 37.5 million viewers each.
Excerpts of the “SNL” sketches
are being shown repeatedly on
the news.
“To the extent it may have
locked in perceptions from the
first debate, maybe it’s not so
great for either of them,” said
political humorist Al Franken, a
former “SNL” performer and
writer, and current Gore supporter.
Lampooning politicians is not
new to “SNL,” which last year
celebrated 25 years on television. Chevy Chase’s stumbling
1976 impressions of President
Ford in the show’s first season
have been cited as wounding
Ford’s candidacy.
“The unfairness to Ford was
that he was the most athletic
president we’ve ever had,”
Franken said. “And Chevy made
him into a stumbling fool.”
Ford later said: “On occasion, I
winced. But on the other hand,
Betty and I used to watch
‘Saturday Night Live’ and
enjoyed it. Presidents are sitting
ducks, and you might as well sit
back and enjoy it.”
Like Gore and Bush, politicians
have come on such shows for
years in hopes of softening stiff
images. As long ago as 1968,
Richard Nixon showed up on
“Laugh-In” to recite one of the
show’s trademark lines, “Sock it
to me.”
Lorne Michaels, creator and
executive producer of “Saturday
Night Live,” said partisanship is
barred from the sketches. The
humor comes in capturing what
is on voters’ minds.
One skit particularly successful
at that was the 1988 debate
matchup of Dana Carvey as
George Bush and Jon Lovitz as
Michael Dukakis, Michaels said.
“Bush” had difficulty filling the
time answering a question and
repeated “stay the course” and
“thousand points of light” until
the time expired. “Dukakis” was
asked by the moderator for his
rebuttal.
“I can’t believe I’m losing to this
guy,” Lovitz’s Dukakis said.
=====
The Center for Media and
Public Affairs monitored “The
Tonight Show,” “The Late Show
with David Letterman,” “Late
Night With Conan O’Brien” and
“Politically Incorrect” from Jan. 1
to Oct. 16. Its findings:
— Bush has been the target of
465 jokes.
— Gore has been the butt of
322 jokes.
— Dick Cheney has been the
subject of 106 jokes to Joseph
Lieberman’s 41.
=====
“Earlier today, George W. Bush
said that he has one goal for
these debates. He wants to
show the American people that
he’s presidentiamable.” — David
Letterman, Oct. 3.
=====
“You’ve gone from George
Washington, who could not tell a
lie, to Bill Clinton, who could not
tell the truth, to Al Gore, who
can’t tell the difference.” — Jay
Leno, Oct. 12.
^———
On the Net: Saturday Night
Live
Web
site:
http://nbctv.nbci.com/snl/