Serious Goes Satire
by Mike Conway
“One of the reasons people get involved in politics is social, and people want to belong to something that's fun and has a lot of energy behind it.” (Zengerle, 2004) This is how Sarah Leonard puts it when she was asked why the value of comedy in politics is so important to the American culture. We, the American people, are a society that loves to be entertained, especially when it comes to such events like the presidential election, because what better event is there for comic relief at the expense of our political leaders.
And, of course, what better television program would there be to bring this comic relief to the American people but Saturday Night Live. SNL, as it is called by many across the country, has been in existence since 1975, and since this time, has demonstrated the type of humor, yet political satire with actual bite (Kurtz, 2003), that many across the United States seek for every presidential election. It is SNL who illustrates to the American people the vast imperfections that are commonly seen with our political leaders, as they fumble their way towards gaining the highest political seat in the country, the presidency. SNL has a rich history of puncturing politicians. One can remember such sketches as Dana Carvey's President George H. W. Bush and maniacal Ross Perot (McGuire, 2004) in the same scene, along with Phil Hartman's impersonation of Bill Clinton, portraying the first presidential debate in 1992. Memorable lines came from this skit, such as President Bush saying “wouldn't be prudent” or Ross Perot calling Bill Clinton a “cracker boy”. Other popular presidential debates that were spoofed on SNL were the most recent ones, such as the 2000 Presidential debate that featured Darrel Hammond as Vice President Al Gore and Will Ferrel as George W. Bush. Many say this was the best political interpretation by SNL of any other presidential race before it, because of the many malapropisms each of the candidates had during that time. (McGuire, 2004) So many memorable lines came from these sketches, such as George Bush summoning up his campaign in one word as “strategery” or Al Gore constantly pronouncing that his campaign would keep the surplus in a “lock box”. (SNL DVD, 2003)
SNL's political satire of the presidential race over the past thirty years has forged many Americans to take a light-hearted approach to what is otherwise considered our nations most idealized form of democracy to the rest of the world. When one looks back at all of the past presidential races, it is hard not to think of the many episodes SNL produced for us that made us laugh at the people who we were actually going to vote for as our next leader. It is this profound effect that SNL has had with American culture, instead of one citing the political agenda of a past campaigner, they say a popular line from an earlier episode that the politicians “character” said on SNL. Whoever thought politics and comedy can go together so well.