On Fri, Oct 10, 2008 at 12:47 AM, <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> wrote: > I'm inclined to like Armisen, and really liked his "I'm just kidding" > character. The blandness of his Obama, though, isn't his fault. > Obama's smart and sharp, but not exactly Adlai Stevenson when it comes > to the zingers. > >> (maybe give McCain some variation on >> H.W. Bush's "I can't believe I'm losing to this guy"). > > It was Lovitz's Dukakis, not Carvey's Poppy. The way you can tell the > difference is that the former is funny; the latter is an oddity of > show business baffling to children and adults alike.
You are right of course about that being Lovitz' line (just my stubborn memory trying to reconstruct that election as Bush losing). Was that the same skit in which Lovitz had what I still think is the highwater mark in SNL political humor (though I may have to reevaluate in light of Palin) in response to the question (to the effect) "now that its over, you can tell us, were you going to raise taxes?" "Through the Roof!" My memory is that skit actually ran the Saturday night before the election that year, but it may have been the week after. I agree with you about Armisen, I mostly like (but don't love) him. But I don't know if I am willing to let SNL off the hook for the blandness by blaming the target. I think a good and fearless satirist would find something meaty there. This is where the non-blackness of Armisen might be hurting them. If they had someone with the balls of Eddie Murphy or Chris Rock on the show right now, they might well be able to seize on some underlying comedic truth that would be every bit as galvanizing as Fey's work. The problem is that a white(ish) guy can not really get away with playing up some militant or hip hop aspect of Obama without getting hammered, unless they were damn (Billy Crystalish?) good. Similarly a guy in drag would not get easily get away with playing Palin as vapid and superficial as Fey. --~--~---------~--~----~------------~-------~--~----~ Like TV only smarter. You received this message because you are subscribed to the Google Groups "TV or Not TV" group. To post to this group, send email to [email protected] To unsubscribe from this group, send email to [EMAIL PROTECTED] For more options, visit this group at http://groups.google.com/group/tvornottv?hl=en -~----------~----~----~----~------~----~------~--~---
