It was game day here, so I got stuck away from a computer and forgot to leave an open thread, and I missed SNL.
What did I miss?
BTW- I bought CIV IV Colonization.
See you in 2009.
*** Update ***
Open Thread
by John Cole| 88 Comments
This post is in: Site Maintenance
Ted
The opening SNL skit was not the debate, but instead an absolutely brutal mockery of the Palin/Couric interview. Then shortly into the show was a skit on the debate. Instead of it making fun of McCain for not looking at Obama, it mocked him for all the campaign gimmickry, and mocked Obama a bit as well for some various other things.
rmp
It was brutal for Palin.
Comrade Incertus
I haven’t watched SNL in years, and I’m not going to start now, but if you missed Maher’s closing on Real Time last night, it was a work of genius. The good stuff starts about two minutes in.
Dave
Opening skit was actually a parody of the Katie Couric – Sarah Palin interview. Fey reprised her role as Bush in a skirt, and Amy Poehler played Couric (by repeatedly blinking at all of Palin’s non-response responses).
Strangely, the debate skit didn’t come on until later in the show, and it seemed quite weak in comparison to previous debate parodies. (McCain joking that the debate be suspended for three pie-eating contests; Obama stating that all graft payments will be tax deductible) In fact it feels like SNL is going out of its way to pull its punches — to avoid jokes that come at the expense of any candidate of either party, so that no one can pigeonhole them as being in the tank for Obama or McCain.
Compared to, say, Dana Carvey as George Bush and Jon Lovitz as Mike Dukakis (“I can’t believe I’m losing to this guy”) this seemed toothless, and instantly forgettable.
Anyone else feel the same?
Michael D.
I’m watching the announcement of “The Deal” over the financial crisis. I’ve never seen a more self-congratulatory bunch of politicians in my life.
“Oh my goodness. We worked ALLLLLL night!!”
Fuck you.
Ted
With a vengeance. I was a bit stunned, myself. But absolutely hilarious.
lampwick
George H. W. Bush took the keys away from George Jr.
Bill Clinton confessed to a serious meth addiction.
Henry Paulson and Ben Bernanke were married in the state of Massachusetts with Barney Frank presiding.
Barack Obama cursed out his cleaning lady.
John McCain slept in until 3 pm, but still woke up cranky.
Rupert Murdoch devoured a small country for lunch, and washed it down with a cocktail made from the blood of a virgin.
Nancy Pelosi bought a NASCAR team.
Harry Reid farted politely.
Osama Bin Laden finally got his taxi license.
Other than that, nothing.
Comrade Incertus
Oh, and Barack Obama’s power swept over the University of Mississippi to such an extent that they beat the Florida Gator today. Such is the power of (as Jesse from Pandagon puts it) Blackazoid!
LiberalTarian
You know, you do wonder where the quick witted have gone. I mean, Friday night to SNL? Too short for our repressed comic times.
If we are so smart, so cosmopolitan, so connected … where are the Lenny Bruce’s of our times? Aren’t there any quick wits???
Dennis - SGMM
Well, let’s see: First the earth cooled. And, then the dinosaurs came, but they got too big and fat, so they all died, and they turned into oil. And, then the Arabs came and they bought Mercedes Benz’s. And, Prince Charles started wearing all of Lady Di’s clothes. I couldn’t believe it, he took her best summer dress out of the closet, and put it on, and went to town…
Dennis - SGMM
Hell, I’d settle for Mort Saul. OTOH, when the politicians are doing their best to act out The Aristocrats much of the comedic oxygen is already consumed.
Michael D.
Well, Dennis is drunk… :-)
Dissatisfied Customer
The Palin sketch was vicious, but nowhere near as vicious as the new Frank Rich column. Go. Read. Now.
north_aufzoo
Unlike Commenter Dave, I wasn’t really disappointed by the debate sketch (but then, my standards for SNL are pretty damn low). The satirical bottom-line of the sketch was clear: McCain’s campaign is a gimmicky joke. That was the running gag in the sketch (yes, there were potshots at Obama and his Chicago machine background, but it was pretty clear that they were inserted perfunctorily in order to provide some semblance of “balance”). And the “McCain Campaign = sellout/trainwreck” theme is actually a pretty excellent characterization to introduce into the pop culture bloodstream. You know he’s a joke, I know he’s a joke, but much of middle America is still under the impression that this guy has some kind of integrity. And, really, other than his “experience,” what has McCain got to run on?
Also, Armisen did a better job with Obama than he has in the past — he got Obama’s tic of beginning every answer with “Look–” down pat. And, at the risk of sucking all the humor out of the sketch, I’m going to note that Armisen’s Obama came across as a firm and presidential straight man; he was the grown-up on the stage. Politically, that bodes well for Barack.
As for the Palin sketch, Holy Shit. What made the sketch so damaging and hilarious (aside from Tina Fey’s ridiculously brilliant portrayal of Palin), was the fact that its script really did not diverge all that much from the actual interview. It was a case of parody being barely able to out-freaky reality. No dismissing this portrayal as broad, toothless satire, a la Bush in 2000. No, this was so specific and terrifyingly sharp that it could really be damaging to Palin. No surprise, then, as Firedoglake reported earlier, that while the actual Palin was considering a walk-on cameo opposite Tina Fey as late as Wednesday, she turned and ran when the opportunity actually arose. Palin can’t laugh this off and be a good sport like Janet Reno was able to do back in the 90s…
Comrade Incertus
Chris Rock’s new special debuted on HBO tonight, and the first half at least was really damn good. He’s as much social commentator as comic.
zuzu's petals
I just came close to maxing out on my B-J/ActBlue/Obama donation. Better they have it now than later is my thinking.
Then I’m gonna start giving to the DNC and the Obama Victory Fund and every other way I can channel money to the cause.
skippy
on topic: snl has been so bad this year, i can never make it to the weekend update. i’m writing on the west coast so i haven’t seen it yet, but boy, these writers now are incredibly blatant, obviously working for joke telegraph service. the crap i wrote for my junior high talent show had more nuance and surprise. they sorely miss tina fey’s guiding hand.
off topic: can anyone tell me what the hell this commericial is supposed to be about?
Martin
Another hour to wait here in Cali.
But I showed my son (he’s 10) two video clips – Biden’s post-debate commentary with Wolf and Palin’s response to the bailout question from Couric. I don’t think he’s seen either speak, and I haven’t shared my opinions of either of them yet (we talk about McCain/Obama all the time because he’s doing US history and current events right now in school). We watched each clip 3 or 4 times and he would pick out new things each time.
He felt that Biden knew what he was talking about, knew the subject matter well, was interesting in the subject matter, and was speaking without preparation.
He felt that Palin didn’t know what she was talking about, noticed she glanced down at her notes several times, didn’t seem interested in the subject, and was speaking after clearly being highly prepared but not knowing the material or being confident of what she was saying.
He’s had to give a number of speeches, both prepared and impromptu, so it was a bit of a lesson for him, but he concluded the best way to prepare for a speech is to simply know what you are talking about very well – know the facts, know how they are relevant, know their context, and genuinely care and be interested in what you are talking about.
Bottom line, he thinks Biden cares about his job and doing it well and Palin doesn’t. Now, why are 40% of voters dumber than my 10 year old kid?
Michael D.
It’s about Areva: Pure Energy. Didn’t you listen?
LiberalTarian
heh. Maybe those cuts to education are finally working for the GOP. *kidding.* *kinda.*
domino
You can see the Palin Couric skit here:
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2008/09/27/tina-fey-as-sarah-palin-k_n_129956.html
ThatLeftTurnInABQ
Frank Rich crosses the T on McCain and unleashes a fncking broadside:
McCain’s Suspension Bridge to Nowhere
and the rest of it is equally nasty. Enjoy.
I mean there isn’t anything in there that hasn’t already been said here and elsewhere in blogistan and said better and with better jokes to boot, but for the MSM-Village this is an absolute demolition job. The Village is officially PISSED OFF.
I wonder if it has something to do with all of them checking to see what the last week has done to their cushy investment portfolios, and deciding that their old McCain crush isn’t worth that much money.
The Dangerman
This could be a TV show; are Republican voters smarter than a 4th Grader? Insert “you could be a redneck if” joke here.
zuzu's petals
Oh. My. Gawd.
I wonder if she’ll watch that one with the sound off.
handy
I’m guessing your kid’s biggest flaw isn’t that 40% of voters are dumber than him, but that he’s young, which is just another way of saying that for all he’s still got to learn in life, he’s open minded complemented by an eye that sees through a lot of the BS.
But I don’t presume to know your son, so YMMV.
Kali's Little Sister
Tonight’s SNL was fine, not great. Why?
Well, the bar is too damn high. McCain and Palin in real life are both so much funnier and more horrifying, it is really hard to beat their schtick.
What chance does a gifted team of experienced, full-time professional satirists have against a McCain/Palin level of absurdity?
comrade pseudonymous in nc
If she does have the sound on, that counts as debate prep for Thursday. Like I said in the last thread, the subversive thing to do — which is why SNL didn’t do it — would have been for them to just read back Palin’s actual answers to Couric. The best bit, satirewise, was when Tina Fey just markov-chained soundbites into a long, incoherent response, with that self-satisfied smirk at the end. (When she says she doesn’t want to be called back to SNL after November, she clearly means it.)
The debate sketch was meh.
The Dangerman
Absolutely vicious. I laughed. I cried (laughing so hard).
I hope the moderator Thursday has a fastball for her; the real Palin can handle the softball talking points, but if she’s challenged and flustered, it’s all over.
Ya know, I think we should check ID’s at the door and make sure McCain didn’t sneak in Tina Fey to do the debate (I have no doubt she could do a better job).
LiberalTarian
Bwahahaha. The opening sketch is awesome.
Too bad the show is 90 minutes, eh?
Just Some Fuckhead
About 80 minutes too long. And SNL: the fat black guy isn’t funny enough to warrant being in every damn sketch, kthxbye.
Comrade Warren Terra
I thought the Palin/Couric sketch was pretty good, they certainly picked the right targets to satirize.The Word Salad section was good – surprisingly good; that sort of thing seems like it should be hard to write and to deliver – but frankly I’d have been as happy if they’d used Palin’s own Word Salad verbatim, rather than exaggerate it and leave people thinking the original wasn’t so bad. I worry a bit that people will confuse the parody with the original, and assume the worst bits were all in the parody.
Mind you, in the Palin sketch Poehler was almost completely useless. I got more from Couric’s expressions than from Poehler’s, at least in poor-quality online video.
I only saw the Palin sketch online, via the HuffPo link, and I haven’t seen a debate sketch video. Anyone got a link?
slip
Step 1. Read this at TPM.
Step2. Go here and click on “contact us.”
Step 3. Send Rick Davis a message.
Martin
No, I think you called it just about right. Open minded skeptic is a core value with us. I lie to my kids constantly – not to deceive them, but to teach them to challenge what they hear (I always come clean and show them what they should have asked to challenge what I said, or how they could have seen through my obvious lie by actually analyzing what I said). They know some people will actively lie to them. They also know some people will passively lie to them. They’re learning how to deal with all that.
But because that’s a core value with us, I don’t easily excuse people who aren’t skeptics, at any age. People will complain about how everyone in Washington are liars and then believe every word they say. It’s amazing.
mannemalon
Obama: Yesterday and Today
He was on fire in NC today.
Comrade Warren Terra
I just came back here to link to the same TPM post that I see slip has just linked to. S/he’s already done that, so I guess this is a bit redundant, but in case slip didn’t convince you, maybe this quote from Marshall’s closing statement in the piece will:
A bit unfair to Randy Scheunemann, who as far as I can tell works for an entirely different lobbying firm, thereby suggesting there is indeed some difference between McCain/Palin and Davis/Manafort, but still a pretty good question.
TenguPhule
Shit Sandwich is ready for passage.
The most expensive meal of Shit in America’s history was just announced as the Monday Blueplate special.
I hope Wallstreet chokes on it.
JGabriel
As I watched Fey answer the question on the bail-out, I almost felt a little let down because her response was so close to Palin’s.
And then I realized what the problem was. There was just no way they could top “Reducing taxes… has got to be a part of any tax reductions.”
But overall, the sketch was great.
.
JGabriel
I think it’s fair to say that Tina Fey should never, ever, travel to Alaska.
For the rest of her life.
And, for Tina Fey’s sake, I pray to God that Palin never achieves a federal office.
.
Alex B
Nothing on TV this weekend is any funnier than the video that’s just resurfaced that shows the REAL(!) Witch Doctor praying over Sarah Palin in her Wasilla Church and she stands there, so devoutly receiving this blessing… But admittedly, it is funny in a dark way.
– Under the McCain/Palin Health Care Plan, Americans will still be able to choose their own family Witch Doctor! –
Martin
Someone needs to mock that ad up…
Comrade Kevin
The SNL “debate” segment blew, totally awful.
It’s pretty bad when they have to make stuff up to put into Obama’s mouth that is “funny” (Chicago corruption ha ha ha), and the McCain stuff writes itself.
vivelame
ok, it doesn’t seem like someone already posted this, so, here you go:
Interview Palin.
Generates answers by Markov chains, from text extracted from various Palin transcripts. I can’t spot a difference with her Couric interview.
vivelame
damn, the first link didn’t come through.
Here.
Catsy
The Palin/Couric skit was absolutely devastating. I find myself thinking of jesters bringing down kings and queens.
Although, as others have noted, it’s hard to top reality with satire these days. One of the reasons I mostly stopped reading The Onion is because there were days when it was hard to tell the difference between the fake news and the real news.
nicethugbert
Blacksited?
nicethugbert
Blacksited?
Joe Max
Areva is a European manufacturer of nuclear power plants.
The commercial is what’s known as an “image ad”.
Nuclear power plants. They’re cool, they’re hip, they power your dance club.
Love them.
Comrade Ivan Fookinov (frmrly: Conservatively Liberal)
I did the same thing with our daughter, and am doing the same with our son. I call it ‘pulling their leg’, and it teaches them to question everything they are told and to never assume anything is fact unless they can back it up with reliable sources (emphasis on the plural). Both kids would get irked every time I would pull their leg but it served to get their attention as to how easily someone can fool them.
When they were little, it was stupid little obvious things that I would lie about. They would initially question me but when I provided proof (such as it was) then they would believe me only to learn that they had been misled. At first it irritated them but as they got older they made it into a game to prove me wrong at every chance they got.
Our 21 year old daughter is a bullshit specialist and she can see it coming from a mile away. She is an avid reader of BJ but still feels that she is not ready for the big leagues just yet. ;) She has been calling out McCain/Palin lovers in a gaming community she hangs out in and when she nails them on the spot on their BS she says that she ‘Balloon-Juiced their ass’…lol! It has got to the point that if they post some BS and she calls them out on it they just slink away until some Obama supporter who knows less comes along for them to attack. Then she dives in again and chases them away. This place gives her plenty of ammo to use, so thanks John and everyone! :)
Our 13 year old son is still learning but he is doing just fine. Teaching your kids not to accept everything at face value is an important lesson as it teaches them to look into everything that they have questions about and not to take a sole source of information as fact. Teaching a kid to think for themselves is one of the most important things that a parent can do for them.
It works. Truth has a liberal bias. :)
Ted
BTW, here’s a link to that opening SNL sketch of the Palin/Couric interview.
My god, that’s brutal. And hilarious.
Comrade Baron Elmo
John, your idea for the SNL debate sketch was miles funnier than what they actually coughed up… not one good laugh to be had.
Comrade Ivan Fookinov (frmrly: Conservatively Liberal)
Comment stuck in moderation yet again…lol
Comrade Ivan Fookinov (frmrly: Conservatively Liberal)
Moderation strikes again! Third attempt! ! !
Conservatively Liberal
My posts using c o m r a d e keep going into moderation no matter what I type?! Hep!
justme
Funny, I thought the section people are calling “word salad” and “Markovian” was actually verbatim from the real interview. Now I have to go back and check, but I’d swear that at least a huge chunk of it was straight transcript, which is what made me near piss myself laughing.
The Grand Panjandrum
I’m with skippy and others that the Palin/Couric sketch isn’t funny. I was looking forward to the possibility that SNL might actually be funny, but alas … not funny.
Comrade PeterJ
That commerical sure Reminded Me of one of my favorite videos…
True enough, the same company is behind both of them.
Also, the Areva commerical is called ‘Experts en énergie’, search for that on YouTube and the first hit is about Palin, but then she is the expert on energy…
Comrade NonyNony
Naw. Too short for SNL, which is a dinosaur that remains because of fond memories of its youth and because it’s pretty much part of the “right of passage” for American High School and college students to watch it, giving it a guaranteed audience in a choice demographic.
After all, the Daily Show has zero problems with a one day turnaround. SNL just sucks.
maxbaer (not the original)
John, thx for the Frank Rich link. It’s full of so much snarky goodness:
Jimmm
http://talkingpointsmemo.com/archives/220379.php
Rick Davis, McCain campaign manager, is using McCain campaign as a money-laundering service for his Freddie Mac paychecks.
THESE are the guys who are pledging to clean up Washington. Fuck’s sake, the RNC should withdraw the McCain candidacy and start from scratch in 2012.
El Cid
The New York Times Editorial board today has been taken over by shrill, unserious, fringe liberal extremists not sufficiently interested in blaming both parties for our current crises.
El Cid
Wow. It appears that Dianne Feinstein can at least talk the shrill, but won’t walk it.
Comrade Mary, Would-Be Minion Of Bad Horse
Comrade Peter J, I just showed Edward Tufte that video. He gives it a 67 and says he can dance to it. I thought it was pretty damn fine, too.
jon
For a million a day, could the Obama campaign hire Tina Fey to “debate” Joe Biden on a daily basis all across the country until election day? Maybe just five days a week since she has a life, but it would be worth it for both Obama and Fey.
And Alec Baldwin would have more time to spend with his kids.
jon
And can we cut the bullshit about the nostalgia/loss of memory involving the old SNL?
All the talk about how Saturday Night Live isn’t funny anymore is bullshit. It was very rarely funny for entire programs. People remember moments more than sketches, but very rarely remember the classic SNL that broadcast on such-and-such date. The beloved “classic” programs were mostly best-ofs, the show has always been uneven, and whether or not it’s stuck in its formula can be argued forever. (Kinda like the Rolling Stones: they have two or three songs, but at least they’re good songs.)
I say all the talkshows and sketch shows are too formulaic for my current tastes. No, I won’t be there after the break. And I’ll buy it later on DVD if I hear enough good things, so I can watch it on my own schedule without those fucking commercials.
Krista
New Civ expansion? Oooh!
WRT the SNL interview sketch, I thought it was great, and yeah — the answer that Tina Fey gave about the bailout was damn close to the original answer that Palin gave. Damn close. Funny how Palin originally rejuvenated McCain’s campaign, and now it looks like she’ll be the cement boots attached to McCain’s feet.
Comrade Scrutinizer
Exactly. Except for occasional sketches, SNL has never been funny.
Comrade ellie
From the Frank Rich article: Angry Old Ironsides! Bwahahahaha! That pretty much sums up McSame.
Notorious P.A.T.
Does anyone know what was so bad about Palin’s interview with Katie Couric?
Brick Oven Bill
Open Thread Topic: Henry Paulson
Henry Paulson pisses me off. He plays the ‘Hank’ card to patronize the population. Goldman Sachs originated many of the CDOs when he was in charge. By the time the CDOs went bust, ‘Hank’ was at the Treasury, and Goldman wasn’t holding them. This was not an accident.
If the people who bought the CDOs sued Goldman, fraud would be uncovered in the discovery period and Goldman would need to buy back the CDOs at cost, bankrupting them. The reason Paulson needs to have the taxpayers buy the CDOs is so that his firm and his personal fortune are protected.
This is corruption. The reason we have corruption on this scale is because we have allowed the electorate to be dumbed down. In 1789, only ¼ of American males were allowed to vote due to property and tax requirements. The 1789 electorate would put Paulson in jail, not give him $700 billion, soon to be trillions, to distribute to his friends.
The Founding Father’s biggest error was the failure to codify voter eligibility. Democracies with universal suffrage do not last long. They are always replaced with something bad. It is usually very ugly.
TR
Seriously? Did you watch the thing?
Her answers were so incoherent, so full of nonsense, and so ridiculous that the SNL spoof of her actually had segments where 80% of the “joke answer” was a verbatim copy of her real answer.
TR
McCain’s on George Snuffalupagus this morning, and he just forced an answer about how happy he is to have Palin as his VP partner. I’m pretty sure I saw him blinking out an S-O-S.
And now McCain is insisting that Obama is the one who’s dirtied with Fannie Mae connections. What fucking balls.
TR
Snuffy pointed out the fact that several McCain aides were getting tens of thousands of dollars from Fannie last month, and McCain said, no, they haven’t had any lobbying connections for two years or so.
Balls as big as church bells.
JGabriel
Krista:
Kind of like mainlining a dying coke addict. Sure, he feels better at first, but you know it’s all gonna end in tears and heart attacks.
.
SGEW
Ah, disenfranchisement. The first refuge of the scoundrel.
By the way, Brick Oven Bill, this philosophy is the epitome of literal “elitism.” By definition.
Darkness
Oh, man. Ha! the Republicans are robbing each other blind. That makes me so happy. And it will save on the booze bill today too. Thanks.
Rick Taylor
My favorite part:
It’s one thing if other people say you put the good of your country ahead of your own ambitions, but when McCain says it about himself (especially after he’s said the opposite about Obama), it grates on me. Now who’s the arrogant one again?
Comrade Mary, Would-Be Minion Of Bad Horse
HEY!! Why does everyone else on this thread look like a chess pawn? Is that supposed to be some deep metaphor?
(Seriously: it’s a pretty clean design. I like the numbered comments. Now I have to go look under the hood to see what else your developer has done.)
Comrade grumpy realist
Hmm, maybe that’s why my attempt to link to Matt T.’s article on Pail ended up being as *epic fail.*
Will wait until your new improved system settles down, John. I know, teething problems….(We’re still dealing with the horseradish our database at work produces and have had it for 4+ years (!))
cleter
It would have been funnier if SNL had shown part of the actual Palin interview–the set-up being Fey and Poehler and the writers watching it to get ideas for the skit, and then the writer’s meeting breaks down into increasingly ridiculous arguing about how they could possibly parody anything that absurd.
Really, the SNL parody is not as funny as the real thing. I’ve never seen that happen before. Palin is becoming un-parodyable.
Amy Alkon's Testicles
Every Civilization game should be designated a controlled substance. The shit is digital crack.
skippy
i prefer the explanation of one of my commentors:
Mike
Good luck kicking the Colonization crack. A week in and I’m still coming home to play it at lunch.
J.A.F. Rusty Shackleford
Civ IV, Warlords and Beyond the Sword all crash on 64-bit Vista. A complete and total lock-up that doesn’t occur until the game starts getting good.
Alpha Centauri definitely needs to be updated for Vista.
zuzu's petals
And now, a bit of sympathy from Judith Warner of the NYT for a Woman Clearly Out of Her League:
Poor Sarah
The comments are pretty dead on. Palin did choose her fate, after all.
Notorious P.A.T.
Nope. I’ll be watching the debate though )
Alex B
JGabriel – Thanks for isolating that Palin tax reduction quote. I had missed it. (But then, in her train wreck answers, lots gets past us – talking points flying off the tracks in all directions…)
Next, Palin will tell us ‘drilling for oil has got to accompany oil drilling.’
‘Reforming government has got to accompany government reform.’
As for her fears of ‘Putin rearing his head in Alaskan airspace’…
I’m suggesting the only ‘Alaskan airspace’ she needs worry about is the abundent Alaskan airspace between her ears.
Ecks
Well that was the fricken brilliance of the SNL sketch. The fact that they were reciting large stretches of Palin’s speech verbatim on a show that everyone knows is one big parody makes it brutally clear that Palin herself is a joke. It’s not a caricature of her (like all their regular political satire), it really is her. She’s the joke. It’s laughing AT, not WITH. That makes it, to my money, the most brutal and nasty political satire they could possibly have pulled.
Jason S
Which democracy with universal suffrage failed?