Saturday Night Live is opening its 36th season with alum Amy Poehler and too-hot-for-Sesame Street Katy Perry. But for us, as much as we love Poehler (Knope is dope!), the real reason to watch is because Governor Paterson will be appearing on a show that has relentlessly mocked his apparent incompetence, his drug use, his extramarital flings, his blindness, problems in his administration and much, much more. During his first appearance as Paterson, Fred Armisen said, "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 was upset when the first spoof of him aired in December 2008, because it depicted him stumbling around and walked into the cameras—but only upset on behalf of other disabled people, "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." His office issued a statement slamming the show as well ("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"). Last year, Paterson offered to go on SNL...when his approval rating was 20%.
Arts Beat says, "No word on whether Mr. Paterson will go head-to-head with his “SNL” doppelgänger, Fred Armisen, or crack any jokes about New Jersey, a running theme of Mr. Armisen’s skits (though not of Mr. Paterson’s actual tenure in office)." Also, Paterson's spokesperson wouldn't confirm the appearance, but wouldn't deny it either. We figure Paterson wants a chance to go on the show before he leaves office.
