SNL Under Fire Once Again for Paterson Portrayal

Recently engaged Fred Armisen's impression of Governor Paterson seems to to have really touched a nerve in the zeitgeist. Today the Times was going after the slapstick portrayal saying it was put on by "comedy writers with frat-boy sensibilities " and was a "level of humor might fairly be described as sophomoric were that not an insult to sophomores." Despite this week's sendup focusing on satirizing the governor's penchant for one-liners, the Times echoes some of the same criticisms lobbed SNL's way in December when the sketch was dubbed so offensive by many that even the governor went out of his way to criticize the show's treatment of the disabled. But Armisen has nothing on BBC host Jeremy Clarkson who many across the pond want fired for calling British Prime Minister Gordon Brown "a one-eyed idiot." (He's blind in one eye.) Meanwhile a Newsday blog puts forth a conspiracy theory that a show as big as SNL going after a local figure as Paterson could be revenge for Lorne Michael's friend, Caroline Kennedy.

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By Billy Parker in Arts and Events on February 6, 2009 5:39 PM

Comments [rss]

ummmmheyyyys

"level of humor might fairly be described as sophomoric were that not an insult to sophomores."

dissssssssss.

Papercutninja

The critics need to grow up. Gov Patterson is just like everyone else, a person. He's in the public eye (no pun intended), and he'll get his satires JUST LIKE EVERYONE ELSE. He shouldn't be treated with kid gloves just because he's disabled.

And Jeremy Clarkson FTW.

Trilby16

I give them mad props for doing it again, after all the criticism. Balls out. And it was funny, even better than the first time, c'mon! Armeson's impression is dead on. How is he supposed to play the governor? Like he's NOT blind?

ed_Extinct

why are they under fire? it's satire.

ides_of_march

If you find it offensive, don't watch it.

cucarachita

MAD TV is so lame. I'm glad they're canceling it. Thanks for the good news!

xnan

I've long found SNL unwatchable. GImme MAD TV anyday... even their re-runs are funnier than anything SNL has done in years. Too bad they're canceling the one show that knows when to end a joke/sketch and still has some actual comic talent. It's a damn shame!

royinhell

Although comedy is where you can find it, this portrayal goes beyond comedy... I find it to be the worst kind of 'comedy'... not that there's been much comedy on SNL in ages.

I"m definitely not PC as far as humor goes, (my view is that if it's truly witty, it works) but this is just sad and pathetic. Ooh.. he's legally blind! Isn't that funny?

No, it's not. As well as the rest of SNL... it's just not funny. I can watch the entire show (thank goodness for DVR) in about 15 minutes and know I'm not missing anything.

snickerdoodle

If a black comedy show did this would it even be news? Here's a Newsflash: SNL has been doing social and political satire since its inception, and nobody is safe, no matter their color, creed, nationality, religion, or handicap. Political correctness, thank God, has not completely killed comedy. Not yet anyway.

"the Times echoes some of the same criticisms lobbed SNL's way in December when the sketch was dubbed so offensive by man."

Nobody I know found the sketch offensive except for the liberal, P.C. media like the NYT who whine and cry over every little thing that gets in their eye and then they try to create some phony outrage over it by reporting on the non-story several times within the day. Sorry, didn't work.

Gov. Paterson should not be excluded from satire, no matter how bad or unfunny it may seem. Otherwise, we are truly no longer a free country, where certain groups are coddled from criticism that others get because of their race or handicap. We want true equality, remember? Not, rules for one group and a different set of rules for another. I can't think of anything more anti-American than that.

Suck it up, Gov. Paterson. Suck it up liberal P.C. media. And everybody grow a pair.

Future Taliban

In the land of the blind the one-eyed governor is uh ...well, ...governor.

Tgirl

the show's not funny, period.

Toby von Meistersinger

Jeremy Clarkson on a bad day ordering a ham sandwich is going to be funnier than anything SNL has done for some time. Comedy. How hard can it be?

Hell, even the bad 1990s B (or worse) movies that channel 7 runs against SNL are usually funnier, although I don't think they were intended to be funny.

r_friend

I'm tired of these fancy, two-eyed smart-alecks trying ruin all the fun.

hoodlum

I find the jokes he does during the sketch funny. New Jersey does smell. I've been saying this for years. The jokes on that fact that hes blind (Such as wondering in front of the camera) I do not find funny and it seems pretty offensive to me.

openheads

And the NY streets smell like an intoxicating bouquet of warmed up garbage & stale urine.

Sommelier

"And the NY streets smell like an intoxicating bouquet of warmed up garbage & stale urine."

Yeah... from all the people from Jersey who come to the City to get drunk. New Yorkers can always find a toilet.