Obama Took On The Right At White House Correspondents’ Dinner

Obama White House Correspondents Dinner

The White House Correspondents’ Dinner has turned into a major event in recent years, and Barack Obama did a fine job. Among his jokes:

“For many Americans, this is still a time of deep uncertainty. I have one friend, just weeks ago, she was making millions of dollars a year, and she’s now living out of a van in Iowa.”

“Michele Bachmann predicted I would bring about the biblical end of days. Now that’s big. … Lincoln, Washington — they didn’t do that.”

On Bernie Sanders: “Apparently people really want to see a pot-smoking socialist in the White House. We could get a third Obama term after all.”

On Dick Cheney: “He thinks I’m the worst president of his lifetime, which is interesting because I think Dick Cheney is the worst president of my lifetime.”

Cecily Strong, while not as good a comedian, as Barack Obama, did better in this situation than as anchor on SNL’s Weekend Update. She had a number of jokes about the media, from the number of prison documentaries on MSNBC to the nature of Fox’s audience: “Fox News has been losing a lot of viewers lately, and may they rest in peace.”

She was clearly backing Hillary Clinton but she did mention the email scandal: “Hillary Clinton said that she used her private email because she didn’t want to use more than two devices. Now if that sounds familiar, it’s because it’s also one of the rules of the sex contract of ‘Fifty Shades of Grey.'”

Obama’s expression of political views has received far more attention than Strong’s. On climate change: “Look at what’s happening right now. Every serious scientist says we need to act. The Pentagon says it’s a national security risk. Miami floods on a sunny day, and instead of doing anything about it, we’ve got elected officials throwing snowballs in the Senate! It is crazy! What about our kids?! What kind of stupid, short-sighted, irresponsible…”

Both conservative liberal blogs agreed that Obama was expressing liberal views in such jokes, but the spin was quite different. Power Line’s headline was Our Mean-Spirited President Cuts Loose. Ezra Klein put it differently (and more accurately): The joke was that Obama wasn’t joking.

Cast Changes At Saturday Night Live With Cecily Strong Joining Weekend Update

SNL-articleLarge-v2

Seth Meyers will be leaving Saturday Night Live in February to take over as host of Late Night. The New York Times reports that Cecily Strong, the Girl You Wished You Hadn’t Started a Conversation With at a Party, will be hosting Weekend Update along with Meyers starting this fall. Lorne Michels, who produces both SNL and Late Night is also hoping that Seth Meyers will continue working on SNL just to do Weekend Update. This might be possible as Late Night doesn’t have a Friday night show, giving Meyers some time off to moonlight on a second show.

With Fred Armisen, Bill Hader, and Jason Sudeikis all leaving, following other recent major departures from SNL, this is being called one of the biggest transitions in the history of the show. Lorne Michaels has this to say about cast transitions:

“People attach to the cast they see in high school,” Mr. Michaels said. “In those years they generally can’t drive. They don’t have any money. Staying up late is exciting. Being with friends up late is really exciting. So they’re very connected to the cast they see then.”

The cast I was most attached to was the original cast: : John Belushi, Dan Aykroyd, Laraine Newman,  Jane Curtin, Gilda Radner,  Garrett Morris, and Chevy Chase. Maybe it was because I was in high school when they started, but I do think they were by far the best group. As with Community, Chevy Chase left earlier, then the rest of The Not Ready For Prime Time Players left in 1979-80. Replacing them was even more difficult than replacing the cast members who left recently.