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Though some people may have laughed at Saturday Night Live's depiction of Governor David Paterson—which did include Fred Armisen as Paterson stumbling around due to his blindness and saying "I'm a blind man who loves cocaine who was suddenly appointed governor of New York. My life is an actual plot from a Richard Pryor movie."—Paterson himself was not one of them.
The governor was more upset with how blind people were portrayed, telling the Daily News, "I can take a joke. But only 37% of disabled people are working and I'm afraid that that kind of third-grade humor certainly adds to this atmosphere... Let's just say I don't think it helped," and his office issued a statement slamming the show, too:
The governor engages in humor all the time, and he can certainly take a joke. However, this particular Saturday' Night Live' skit unfortunately chose to ridicule people with physical disabilities and imply that disabled people are incapable of having jobs with serious responsibilities. The governor is sure that Saturday' Night Live,' with all of its talent, can find a way to be funny without being offensive. Knowing the governor, he might even have some suggestions himself.Well, obviously Paterson needs to appear on the next show!
Unfortunately, NBC was unable to find anyone available to comment about the skit. The Weekend Update segment featured two Paterson bits (videos after the jump): First had Paterson discussing what he was looking for in a Senate replacement for Hillary Clinton (and fumbling with a chart) and the second featured Paterson accidentally walking into the camera shot.
Chris Danielsen, spokesman for the National Federation of the Blind, worries potential employers won't take blind people seriously, "When you have a perception problem like we have, you take these things a little more seriously... Obviously, the governor of New York is blind, and he's doing the job. Whenever you have a portrayal that calls the basic capacity of [blind people] into question, that's a potential problem."
NY Magazine's Daily Intel was offended by the skit; coincidentally, the print edition of NY Magazine says reason #5 to love New York is "Because a Legally Blind, Formerly Adulterous Onetime Recreational Coke User Can Be Governor" with a photo of Paterson holding up papers really close to his face. [Reason #6 is "Because When We Flame Out, We Do So in Spectacular Fashion (though perhaps not as spectacular as some)"—cue Spitzer image]
Armisen also plays "Richie B." a deaf, politically incorrect comedian. And we remember how SNL used the "walking into the shot" device on Weekend Update with Crazy McCain Lady.
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Obama was ayo for the yayo and i don't see them making fun of it.
But only 37% of disabled people are working
That's because many healthy but lazy people falsely claim to be disabled so they can get benefits and not have to work.
rule #1 in comedy if you are going to offend:
it had better be hilarious
SNL thinks that its enough to credibly impersonate someone, they need to figure out how to be funny at the same time.
The sketch would have been far less offensive had it actually been funny.
Of the four or five SNL's I've seen this year, I thought this past weekend's show was one of the least funny.
If Armisen had played him as someone who had 20/20 vision, they'd complain that he was not represented as he should have been and that blind people all over America should boycott the show until a real blind person was hired. Meh!
I thought it was pretty funny. Patterson got off way too lightly when he was preparing to take office and revealing all his past transgressions. Now having become more of a national figure (including lots of attention for his comedy-laced speeches) it makes sense that SNL did a bit on him.
Also, where exactly does the skit say a legally blind person is unfit to be Governor?
Mentally disabled, former recreational drug users that are blind to world's issues can become president too. What a country!
It was okay until later in WU, when they had Paterson just wandering around as if he was deaf in addition to being blind.
It was most unfunny when it shit all over Amy Poehler's farewell.
TK FTW.
Its not even funny. That just remined me, why I dont watch SNL anymore. Im all for Making fun of the person, but the dissabilty is a little too much.
Also, where exactly does the skit say a legally blind person is unfit to be Governor?
Huh? The skit said that Paterson was "comically unprepared" to be governor, and portrayed him as incompetent thoughout. They didn't even make his "zingers" as good as they are in real life. It was a C+ bit at best.
Blagojevich cold opening and the family that fights and then sings were both a D. (And I mean, come on, they had Hugh Laurie and couldn't think of something good to do with him. That's a crime right there.)
Who cares if it's offensive -- all is forgiveable if it's funny. But it's not.
So you're sitting around the table at the writer's meeting coming up with jokes about Paterson, and someone says "He's blind! Blind people are goofy-looking. We can make fun of that by making him into a lurching, grasping retard, like all those other blind people!" Well, that's when someone with a sense of humor is supposed to say "no, too easy, too obvious, too boring...and have you ever even met a blind person? What ELSE is funny about him?"
There's plenty you could do with Paterson -- even with his blindness. His own jokes about blindness are hilarious. (For example, how did Spitzer get caught? Paterson was the lookout.) But his blindness doesn't make him into a lurching retard -- in fact, he's really pretty smooth. So none of this is really a joke about HIM -- it's a joke about how goofy SNL thinks OTHER blind people can look. But, come on, that's supposed to be funny material? All SNL has is "blind people are goofy?"
Is that offensive? Yeah, but mainly to your sense of humor.
so...how did he see it?
or did someone describe it to him?
Suck it up governor, Sarah Palin took a lot more abuse without falling to pieces. At least they didn't make any incest jokes about your family.
The Coke use? Fair game. The crazy high pitched whiny voice? Yup fair game. A seemingly bumbling, folksy guy who gets thrust into the governors chair of one of the largest, most important states in the nation? Sure that's funny.
But I agree, the skit really was making fun of his blindness more than anything. It was pretty juvenile and low--and lets not compare this to Palin. Much of one skit about her just repeated the Katie Couric interview WORD FOR WORD! Paterson has enough funny things about him, one doesn't need to stoop to that level...
What to say about SNL... This pretty much demonstrates that the quality of writing is no higher than the comedic talent of a second grader. Oh, boy! A blind joke abou a blind governor! That's so witty! To see how pathetically untalented the writing at SNL is, remember that the "funniest" and highest rated sketch they've had of late was the Pallin spoofs - WHICH THEY DIDN"T EVEN WRITE!!!! THey just copied what Pallin said verbatim. That's high quality comedy writing? That's talent? Please.
If I don't take blind people seriously, it has nothing to do with this skit.
It's about time a politician fired back at one of these grade-school level noncomedy sketches. Poking fun at blindness was over the line.
www.forgotten-ny.com
In typical SNL fashion, it was not funny. If it was this would probably be a non-issue.
Methinks the Gov has more important issues to discuss rather than SNL's skit on his infirmity. It's a shame that his ego is that fragile. Maybe he should put a tax on SNL for any slanders they impose upon his holier-than-thou self righteousness. Silence has always spoken louder than words to show the upper hand. Might a cue be possibly taken from that rather than holding a press conference the next time your ego is bruised. Get over your bad self! I didn't see Richard Pryor, Stevie Wonder, Sarah Palin, ad infinitum holding press conferences when SNL ridiculed them. Suck it up! Or do I now have to apologize for your past associations with rolled up dollar bills inserted into your nostrils whilst inhaling pixie dust?
I think Paterson himself didn't like the sketch not because it was mocking him, but because it simply wasn't very funny -and Paterson is a pretty funny guy himself. To me, his comments about the skit come more from an obligation as a high-profile blind person to speak out against such caracatures in defense of others . Making fun of him is fine, but he does need to speak up for other people who are blind as they, too, although not intentionally, were being mocked.
And to add to the lameness, it included the 4,582th time WU used New Jersey to try and add to the after-party street cred by dogging it out. Always a surefire transplant callout.
Shh, we won't mention that both Seth (Bedford, NH) and Amy (Burlington, MA) are backwater, small-town folks. Sip your Mohito and pretend to be *native*.
Two words that equalize New Jersey across the Hudson: Long and Island.
they would have gotten away with it had the skit been FUNNY.