Comedy is used to make people laugh and smile usually during times of stress or unhappy situations. It is also used when one wants to make fun of a situation or an event that has transpired. Saturday Night Live (SNL) has a tendency of doing this and they, for the most part, are usually successful. Their portrayal of Sarah Palin has been noted as being extremely successful and have created multiple skits to use the character to help poke fun at politics in a world where your average American is not happy with the status quo.
This past Saturday, SNL was at it again as they decided to make fun of the Vice Presidential Debate that occurred last week. It was interesting in how SNL went about doing it. The political media had hyped up the actual debate as being extremely important to Democrats because of Obama’s poor performance during the Presidential Debate.
However, even before the questioning began in the Vice Presidential Debate skit, the moderator says that this debate will not affect the outcome of the actual Presidential race, so have fun with it. Being that the skit is meant to poke fun at the real debate, it makes the average watcher wonder how far from the truth SNL really is.
Both the Presidential and Vice Presidential debates did more than give American voters a chance to see and hear what the candidates are all about; it provided comedians with additional ammo for their routines. This includes shows like SNL who wasted no time putting together a skit that featured a mock Vice Presidential debate between Biden and Ryan.
The skit was very entertaining as it showed off the goofiness and bizarreness of the candidates themselves; however, it also was a reminder that generally, the Vice Presidential debate does not have much impact on the outcome of the election.
Any viewer who did not realize this was made clear of this immediately when moderator Martha Raddatz, who was played by a solid but unremarkable Kate McKinnon, opened up the debate by stating to the candidates that their performance is “extremely unlikely to affect the outcome of the election, so just have fun with it.” Both “candidates” did just that by playing each character as close to how they actually acted as possible.
Jason Sudeikis played Biden and acted just like him and had the obnoxious-and-slightly-buffoonish-yet-relatable-and endearing thing down. He seemed to be right on, according to Huffington Post and what was called Biden’s “flurry of eye rolls, interjections and accusations” that barely at times allowed Ryan to spit out complete sentences last Thursday.
Taram Killam played Ryan and was basically smarmy and vague with a wee bit of charm. His desire to consume a lot of water and use of hand gestures to attempt to be more specific about the Romney-Ryan tax plan was very entertaining.
America is in a time of need and change as the status quo is not acceptable to the general public. Comedy is a good source to help elevate a tense environment. SNL’s skit does a good job of taking a serious situation and making it amusing to watch. Yet, the general statement they are sending out is that the Vice Presidential debate does not carry any weight or influence the Presidential election.
In looking at the real debate and the mock debate, America needs to ask themselves how important is it to have a Vice Presidential debate and what do they want to get out of it; besides material for a SNL skit.
SNL VP Debate Video
SNL was at it again as they decided to make fun of the Vice Presidential Debate that occurred last week. SNL Biden Ryan Debate.
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VP Debate Time is 9pm EST on October 11th, 2012
