SNL Does Blackface...Story at Six

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SNL Does Blackface...Story at Six

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Written by mrhotlanta

Monday, 14 December 2009 10:11

As I seem to be programmed to do every Saturday night, I stay up to try and watch SNL, which has now been the only 'live comedy' game in town for over three decades. Traditional vodka tonic in hand, I once again found myself rooting so very hard for this week to be "the one." Yes, I know, I should have seen it coming. The show disappointed, yet again.

Full disclosure - Somewhere between Dave Matthew's second number, I turned off the tube in favor of A Movable Feast, which has been my most successful attempt at reading Hemingway. But I didn't want to do this. I really wanted to be given a reason to stay up with SNL. Unfortunately, that reason never came. But since I didn't watch the entire show, and since I have a thesis in need of finishin', I'll just give a brief word on the opening sketch, for in it lies so much of what is wrong with this formerly great show.

The opening sketch, which apparently now abides by a law requiring it to be a parody of a political event from week's past, attempted to lampoon Pres. Obama's recent trip to China. The sketch featured the underused Will Forte as China's President Hu Jintao with equally talented Fred Armisen continuing to fall short in his role as Obama. The theme of the bit was America's enormous debt to China, and Obama's empty assurances that it would eventually be repaid. Already laughing? Snideness aside, it was not terrible. The punchline was that Hu kept asking Obama if he thought Hu was a female. Obama would ask why, to which Hu would reply (through a translator) "Because you keep trying to do me as such!" (Hu sticks his rear in the direction of Obama.) Get it? Gay sex...get it? Good.

But no matter how funny this was, what I could not get past was that here, in the opening number, were two WHITE actors portraying an Asian and an African American. Got it? That's DOUBLE BLACKFACE! BOO-YA! Maria, who normally makes it through a couple sketches before letting loose with her weekly, "I don't know why you watch this RACIST show," saw this and called it a night. And while I'm not about to call SNL today's Birth of a Nation, it is glaringly clear at this point that Lorne Michaels and company have a real problem giving screen time, and contracts, to minorities (point proving stats to follow).

For the past decade, the world of popular culture has become a very integrated place. Crossovers between white and minority artists happen all the time, and no one bats an eye. The Chappelle show thrived on this type of social milieu, and you'd be hard pressed to find someone who didn't love that show much more than SNL. Did I mention that our president is African American? And yet, Lorne and the gang at SNL continue to push forth this bland, Ivy league, white comedy that hasn't been of real interest for a very long time. Why? Why has he refused to branch out, bringing in a more culturally representative comic voice? I guess only he knows, but if you ask me, I'm blaming it on being from Canada.

I know this site is supposed to be a soap box for my crappy jokes, but I'm branching out a bit. We have now at least ten regular readers, and I think they deserve something more thoughtful, so from now on, TBTF will also offer running commentary on the world of comedy and comic writing. Enjoy.

Read more from mrhotlanta @ http://thisblogtastesfunny.blogspot.com