Dave Weigel previews tonight's season debut of NBC's "Saturday Night Live" and it's "Clinton" (Kate McKinnon) vs. "Trump" (Alec Baldwin) showdown, and wonders how the show (typically watched by 6 or 7 million viewers) will treat the neo- fascist existential threat:
The season opens at a time when the comedy world is engulfed in an angry debate about how to make fun of Trump — and whether some practitioners have given him a pass on his more objectionable stances. For some, Donald Trump isn’t funny anymore. And that has prompted some writers, actors and producers behind SNL to ask this question: What if he wins? And will anyone blame them if he does?A better question they should ask themselves: what's the sane and honorable thing to do right now, given the stakes?
Readers are reminded that last fall, Rump got the "normalizing," Fallonesque treatment by being invited to host SNL:
Trump’s SNL appearance last fall sparked a passionate backlash. The Congressional Hispanic Caucus confronted NBC executives over the show. The Onion AV Club rated the episode a “dreadful, toothless, dead-eyed slog.” Trump’s supporters credited the show with winning him votes.SNL's recent treatment of Clinton has been nothing short of trite, predictable, shallow stereotyping -- just abysmal:
McKinnon’s Clinton, a breakout character, was less of an obvious boon to the campaign. A typical sketch had her promising anything that voters wanted, with a rictus and wild eyes. “Aren’t we such a fun, approachable dynasty?” she asked in an early sketch about a “spontaneous”-looking campaign video. In last season’s finale, she and “Sanders” shared a drink at a bar over how the primary was “so rigged” — an impression that continues to cost Clinton votes from her left.So, how will this season's SNL cope with the looming disaster of the most unfit "thing" ever to run for the office of President? Let's see what comes out of cast member and acute zeitgeist analyst Colin Jost's pie hole:
“Trump and Clinton represent everything that the other side is afraid of,” Jost says. “They are cartoons for so many people on both sides. We’re looking for ways to come at them in a more human way—the humanity of them as people versus attacking them or making blanket statements about them.
“We’re not about Trump is the devil, Clinton is the corporate robot,” Jost says. “It’s something Che does well—that whenever everyone else is piling up the jokes like that, he’ll find a fair way to find something that undercuts some of it.” (our emphasis)So now will we have to deal with more Trump normalizing, "both sides/ false equivalence" in this "comedy" show, too? Someone should get Jost a subscription to Trump- loving Daily Stormer or Breitbart, or have him hop onto Trump's Twitter feed and let him absorb the all the "humanity" there. Better yet, watch Samantha Bee, Seth Meyers, John Oliver, or Steven Colbert instead. Hell, we'll even throw in Jimmy Kimmel!
BONUS: Of course "Lauer-ing the bar" for Trump has it's origins here.
