Former Saturday Night Live cast member Tina Fey says the show’s political humor only works because it is “based in something that was true.”
Fey especially defended her brutal portrayal of 2008 GOP Vice Presidential candidate Sarah Palin, who Fey characterized as a moronic air head.
Appearing at the History Talks event sponsored by the History Channel and Comcast NBCUniversal, Fey defended the late-night sketch comedy show’s recent record of political humor, Variety reported.
“We always worked really hard to make sure they were what we call a ‘fair hit.’ It only felt like it would work if it was based in something that was true,” Fey exclaimed.
Of course, Fey’s biggest “hit” was against Sarah Palin who Fey ridiculed as saying “You can see Russia from my house.”
Palin, who was Governor of Alaska before being nominated as the GOP VP nominee, never in her life said that she could see Russia from her house.
What Palin actually said is that “They’re [Russia] our nextdoor neighbors and you can actually see Russia from land here in Alaska, from an island in Alaska.” And she is 100 percent correct. Russian territory can be seen from Alaska’s Diomede Islands, which is only 2.4 miles away. When conditions are right, Alaskans can physically see Russian shores.
Fey went on at the History Channel event, saying, “Sometimes people will ask me, ‘Does SNL try to control the narrative of politics?’ And they really do not. You really can’t because if it’s not true, it will not be funny.”
But it is hard to see how Fey’s lie about Palin was a “fair hit.” Nor was there any “truth” in Fey’s attack on Palin.
SNL has been accused of lining up to attack Republicans without ever doing the same for Democrats.
The long-time NBC comedy show, for instance, rarely struck out at Joe Biden, usually only portraying him as a fun uncle or making of him a dotty grandfather figure. Going back further, they almost never poked Obama with anything other than a feather, and Bill Clinton was always presented as a sly funny hero. But the show excoriated Gerald Ford, Ronald Reagan, George W. Bush, and especially Donald Trump. Those GOP presidents were portrayed as venal, evil, monsters, about whom noting was fun or funny.
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