JIM TREACHER: It’s Okay Not to Get Mad at Every Little Thing.
I didn’t watch the whole SNL 50th anniversary deal last weekend, because I forgot it was on. The only time I pay attention to the show anymore is when one of the past guest hosts has shot somebody, or when Hollywood makes an embarrassing movie about the show’s premiere back in 1975*. I don’t hate the show. I just don’t care anymore.
So I didn’t see this sketch until today, after a bunch of people complained about it:
Huh. Well, that was pretty funny. Eddie Murphy does a great impression of Tracy Morgan, and I’ll take their word for it that black people don’t tend to watch SNL. The whole thing is self-deprecating humor. I ain’t mad at it.
Apparently, though, I’m supposed to be angry because Tom Hanks showed up at the end, playing a country-ass white fella in a MAGA hat who thinks a black man is threatening him instead of just wanting to shake his hand. Even the audience seemed taken aback by that one.
Outrage!
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I’ll never understand sore winners. MAGA has been getting exactly what they wanted for a solid month now, and it’s still not enough. They have to bitch and moan about an SNL sketch, of all things. They’re more like the libs they hate than they care to admit.
The sketch worked perfectly in one sense. For almost 20 years now, SNL has existed only to provide Sunday column fodder for Beltway journalists. As John Hinderaker wrote in 2017 at Power Line, political reporters and wire services love to recap SNL episodes, because it allows them to get their biases in print while still maintaining a thin veneer of objectivity. “‘Respectable’ news outlets like the AP can’t publish absurd comedy skits ripping President Trump, much as they might like to,” Hinderaker wrote. “But by covering Saturday Night Live, they turn such meaningless attacks into fake ‘news.’”
Similarly, this week, SNL has gotten a ton of free press from outraged red staters who haven’t watched the show in decades, but took the bait and generated plenty of, to coin a phrase, outrage! over a sketch attacking someone wearing a MAGA hat. Whether it’s via the DNC-MSM or from outraged conservatives, generating plenty of ink has kept the show on the air long after its freshness rating (and real TV ratings) expired. At age 80, Lorne Michaels has to be laughing about chalking up yet another win.
* From your humble narrator last month: Live From New York, It’s ‘Saturday Night’ Member Berries!