Although a little more lackluster than its previous weeks, “Saturday Night Live’s” parody of the second presidential debate did not disappoint.
As predicted, SNL capitalized on the town hall style of the debate. The faux-pas of the audience members included long personal rants, accidentally reading a grocery list, violent outbursts and a special guest appearance from Tom Hanks, who fumbled around for almost minute to read his “mind-blowing question,” which was simply “Libya.”
From left, Jason Sudeikis as Mitt Romney and Jay Pharoah as Barack Obama Oct. 6 on Saturday Night Live. (Courtesy Dana Edelson/NBC)
These jokes garnered solid laughs, but the funniest moments of the skit came from the anger between Jason Sudeikis’ Mitt Romney and Jay Pharoah’s Barak Obama. The two interrupted each other every question, with the feud escalating to threats of “meeting each other outside.” The loudest laughs came when Romney pushed and hit Obama during his answer, and in the last few seconds of the skit when Obama looked at Romney and dropped his microphone, walking off to loud applause.
While funny, the cold opening lacked the certain dry wit that one comes to expect from great SNL writing, making the skit not perfect, but a solid B+.
The third and final presidential debate takes place in Boca Raton, Fl, and SNL has already started making the inevitable old-person jokes. In “Weekend Update,” Seth Meyers advised the candidates to “speak loudly and clearly,” since Boca Raton’s city motto is “say it in my good ear.”
Meyer’s “Weekend Update” is usually the highlight of the program, and he delivered some hilarious words of warning to both candidates, telling Obama to talk down to the not-so-bright American people, and advising Romney not to smile, since “his normal facial expression already looks like [he’s] shaming a waiter.”
With both candidates tied in the polls, this next presidential debate will most likely be an even tenser affair, hopefully creating opportunities for more comedy as the political season comes to a close.
Contact CU Independent Staff Writer Kelly Katz at Kelly.katz@colorado.edu.
