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Remember the mid 70’s, during the first ever season of “SNL” when breakout star Chevy Chase did his bumbling Gerald Ford impersonation? One of the big, unspoken jokes of that routine was that Chase intentionally did absolutely nothing to either look or sound like Ford. There was really nothing more to those skits than watching Chevy Chase bumble around. Dan Akroyd might have sported a mustache while playing Jimmy Carter, but at least he got the rest right. In the meantime, Chase was doing the worst impersonation in the history of show business and bringing down the house (and maybe a president). Chase was criticized for being lazy but I thought it was genius, though it would be impossible for me to articulate why.
What’s sad about the Obama/O’Reilly routine above is that these guys don’t even seem to know they’re not trying. Obviously no one at “SNL” wants to land any kind of serious satirical blow on Obama (election year coming donchaknow) — so there’s no comedy there, but the guy playing O’Reilly is so sure that a simple amplification of “The Factor” host’s qualities will do the job for him that this long, laborious skit depends on only that and runs out of steam within seconds. I like O’Reilly, but I’m also willing to admit that, like most nationally known, larger-than-life personalities, he’s pretty ripe for satire. When it comes to hitting the comedic mark, those people are as hard to miss as the side of a barn and … “SNL” missed the side of a barn.
I can only judge the state of “SNL” by the viral clips let loose every Sunday morning. Since John Belushi left, except for my precious DVD collections of the first five seasons, I’ve never seen an entire episode. But I’m assuming they viralize their best stuff, which can only mean that what we have here is an institution resting on its laurels.
More evidence below….
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