"Saturday Night Live" sketch: Rachel Maddow is gay! Isn't that funny?!

Man, you guys got on this one quick. 

The skit committed the cardinal sin of being boring as well as kind of offensive.  Comedy can be offensive, but if there's no substance behind the offense and it's just picking an easy target, well...that's just lazy writing.  

Maddow should be on 30 Rock.  I'll bet Tina would treat her right.  Ba-dum-dum.

...since I rolled them so much they fell out of my head.

But the thumb in the dike thing...geezus @(#%&!

ergh.

That was really too close to just calling her a dyke. WTF. Which I admit, I say...and I'll call myself a dyke... but not something I like hearing when it's in the context of making fun of someone for being gay...which is basically what SNL did here. They made fun of her just for being gay. Which is shit.

Rachel Maddow could do a parody of the SNL parody and it would be funnier.

ETA: I wrote my piece on it here: Infinate Sadness of SNL: 90s Gay Jokes, Weak Impersonations and an Epic Fail on Political Humor

And I've gotten that out of my system.

Basically, SNL's current cast sucks butt. Only a quarter of them are truly funny. I saw the entire sketch and maybe the Billy Jean King reference was funny but Abbie Elliott was horrible. Period. You could even see the hamster dying inside the head of the guy playing Gov. Blagojevich, as his delivery of the "Dutch Boy" joke totally bombed. The Gov. Palin sketches were funny because of Palin's antics. This sketch was just sad and pathetic. 

But I suppose the skit's lameness is a testament to Maddow: when the only thing an entire team of comedy writers can spoof about you is your sexual orientation, keep doing whatever you're doing — you're clearly doing it right!

Sarah, you nailed it right there. There isn't much they can make fun of her about. She just so damn perfect. Yes, the outfit joke ight be funny, same with her geeky jokes, but I think those are some positive things about her and what indears her to people so much. So they really got nothing. They hired a new actress who kind of looks like her and they went with. And sadly it ended up being stupid and making it even more obvious how Rachel's realness, intelligence, pose, and complete sense of herself just rises above everything else. Makes me love Rachel Maddow even more.

so thanks for the link. 

As for the skit itself, this was not some of the show's best material. The actor who played Rachel, it seemed to me, didn't even really try to get any of Rachel's mannerisms down or even her voice.  Am I the only one who was totally thrown off by that voice?!

The Billie Jean King reference was actually kinda funny but the dike/dyke reference was out of line and stupid. In short, this was a pointless skit. It could have been so much more at the expense of Blagojevich and his stupidity (and potty mouth) not a person's sexual orientation. Lame!

i agree that it wasn't the greatest of skits, but i didn't think it was so bad. the ellen and billie jean king references made me laugh, and i actually though that the dutch boy with his finger in the dike was pretty funny. and i think the best way to look at is that she's just that awesome that the only thing they could think of to spoof her was on her orientation. that says alot about her.

snl hasn't been that funny for a few years now, with the exeption of a few skits here and there and tina fey and sarah palin, but i though last night was pretty good. although that might have to do with my insane crush on neil patrick harris =)

I was looking forward to this sketch, but it sucked. I didn't even laugh a full out laugh once, maybe a few smiles at a couple of things. The current cast of SNL is just not that good and the writers are crap. I hardly watch anymore, but I tuned in for the Maddow Sketch, only to be let down. I guess she is just too awesome to be made fun of properly. This past year the only good sketches have been the ones with Tina Fey and Amy Poehler, every one else has sucked. I agree with captainsam, I would love to see Maddow on 30 Rock.

"Life... is like a grapefruit. It's orange and squishy, and has a few pips in it, and some folks have half a one for breakfast." Douglas Adams

After reading the comments posted on this page, I expected something much worse.  Don't get me wrong, this sketch wasn't even remotely funny, but the joke here was not on Rachel at all.  They were making fun of Blagoyavich's ignorance and stupidity. 

I do wish they would approach Rachel about making an appearance on the show or maybe even *crosses fingers* hosting it.

uh, hello, SNL has sucked for years now.  YEARS.  I won't even make an exception for Tina Fey and Amy Pohler because they're funny on their own and SNL just happened to be graced with their presence...I grew up watching all the old Dana Carvey/Mike Myers/Phil Hartman/you-know-what-I'm-talking-about reruns on Comedy Central (remember when it was on Comedy Central?)  And even when I was little it was awesome!  Cheri Oteri and Will Ferrel and Ana Gastyer...So yeah, I'm not very forgiving...actually Rachel Dratch was pretty funny too, I gotta give 'em that.  But Jimmy Fallon can suck it!

this is the sound of settling

Regardless of who they were attempting to bash with those words, I still find it wrong that they're using the voice of 'Blagojevich' to belittle someone for being gay. The dike/dyke took it too far and, judging by the delivery of the actor, he felt the same way.

I am a big fan of humor and satire that pushes the limit...but when that comedic risk is taken, it comes with the consequence of perceived bigotry when the joke fails. SNL, you've failed us.

What the Sarah Palin sketches did was remind everyone how good the show USED to be and how lame it has been for years.  The Maddow skectch was trying to be funny and political, but just wasn't that well written.  But it wasn't focused on Maddow, it was about Burris and Blagojevich, except for those few Blago lines.  (Thanks for posting the link.)

I thought the actress playing Rachael had her mannerisms okay, but the high pitched voice was distracting.  If anyone should be upset, it's Roland Burris.  And Blgojevich may be a greedy, corrupt politician, but he has been supportive of gay rights, so it's kind of piling on to make him say homophobic things, when there is so much else to attack him for.

I'd like to see them try again with a Rachael sketch.  Make fun of how she is so well liked.  You could have some interviewees - gay and straight - fawning over her.  Make fun of her hobby of mixing (alcoholic) drinks.  Or her dorky clothes.  But work on the voice.

Sarah I gotta say...I think you're totally overreacting on this one. Yes the skit wasn't that funny...but Abbie Elliot didn't do that bad impersonating her. It was her FIRST talking skit, may I remind you.

Also...yes the "dike" joke was in poor taste...but I agree with a few others here who said that the whole purpose of the skit was to make fun of Blagojevich and his idiocy.

I think if we can't just take this as a silly skit, without automatically crying out with overreaction...we come across as a bit overly sensitive.

Don't get me wrong, battles are important...but I think we have to choose the right ones.

~Renée 

because there is nothing to make fun of her for except her mouth's a little crooked.

The sketch where they made fun of David Patterson for being blind was way more offensive then this, though the 'finger in the dike' joke was unnecessary.

I think they could have done a better job of impersonating Burris.  He gets that happy-child look in his eye, as though he has no idea what the fuss is all about and he loves the attention.  That would have been better than a series of gay jokes, because, Burris has been on Rachel's show (I think twice last week) and he couldn't have been more respectful and nice to her.

The sketch wasn't that good, but the sketches with Neal Patrick Harris were better.  He's hilarious.  And, his one gay joke about not wanting to kiss his g/f in high school was very funny.

I'm not able to see the video yet, but i'm sure it will be on the tube anytime soon, in the meantime i found this video:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mMg1DNHCR6U

Where the guy reviewing the show says pretty much the same as you do sarah. It sounds kind of lame, but i'll wait to see the actual video before commenting more on it.

Everything with passion, nothing with talent...

You've totally missed the mark on this one.  This skit wasn't at all about Rachel, it was about Burris and Blogojevich.  It was about showing them for the fools that they are.  Abby did squint her eyes, twist her mouth and turn her head as is Rachel's style.  But again, Rachel was not the joke, Burris and Blogo were.  In fact, when the first "gay joke" comes in, it is not until 4 min. 15 seconds into the almost 6 minute sketch.  And, it is used to show Blago as the idiot he is, as are the rest of them.  THAT in fact is the joke, that HE only sees her as gay.

There are enough poor portrayals of gays and lesbians out there; there's no need to create them in the George W. Bush "Terrorist" fashion.  

Lisa

Eh. And here I thought Andy Samberg (wearing glasses, perhaps) would play Rachel.

I kind of don't agree with the whole fuss over this.

I didn't really think that the sketch was about Rachel.  Some of my family members were actually referencing SNL this morning and talking about the "skit about the politics in Illinois"
So, in my mind, she was just kind of a plot device with a few gay jokes thrown in...

'if we cant laugh at ourselves' etc etc you get the picture.

Hope no one was too offended...

=)

The first two-thirds was the same lame joke about Burris.  Blogo's "dyke" jokes/references weren't funny, but neither is Blogo (the bloody parasite).

SNL's relevancy is below my radar unless elevated by genius.  This was FAR from genius.  It wasn't in the ballpark to what Poehler/Fey have contributed, let alone the same state.

Offensive?  Somehow not. 

I have to say I think they got Maddows' mannerisms right, which was entertaining.  On the other hand the whole "thumb in a dike" line was just wrong.  I don't mean wrong in like an overly offensive way, but more in a "seriously?! that is all you could come up with?!" way.

This is just another example why I don't watch SNL anymore.

In what will come as a shock to absolutely no one: I agree with Sarah.

The Blagojevich scandal has been, like Sarah Palin's interview with Katie Couric, unintentionally funny in reality--there's no need to make up jokes, particularly as low brow as these, about it. Roland Burris has been hilarious to watch, IRL. He's seemingly oblivious to why there's a controversy around his appointment and relishes his time in the limelight. And Blago...geez...I mean, his penchant for breaking out into poem alone is ripe for satire.

Moreover, as Sarah noted, there's plenty to satirize about Rachel Maddow--her "Talk Me Down" segments where 95 percent of the time, she knows the person she's talking to agrees with her, Maddow's obsession with infrastructure and constant references to it as porn and--for chrissakes--the "It's Pat!" segment which took its name from an old SNL sketch. Frankly, it's not clear to me that the writers of the sketch have ever actually watched Rachel Maddow's show.

What was equally bothersome for me--and, admittedly, this puts me in the dubious position of defending Governor F-Word--was that, while Blagojevich has numerous other shortcomings, being homophobic does not appear to be one of them. By all accounts, both in his service in Congress and as governor, Blago has actually been a strongly ally for the LGBT community. That doesn't excuse anything he's done, obviously, but I think it dilutes the argument against legitimate homophobia, when we allow people to be skewered as homophobic when they aren't.

---

"The problem of power is how to achieve its responsible use rather than its irresponsible and indulgent use — of how to get men of power to live for the public rather than off the public." -- Robert F. Kennedy

i am the only one who understood that the sketch was not about RACHEL but about the crass and vulgar person this guy Rod Blagojevich on the alst show when they made fun of Blagojevich in front of the senate committee he made fun of the panel just the same including Elizabeth Dole, etc. 

This sketch also has to do with the  stupidity that Roland Burress actually thought that if he went down to Washington to claim a senate seat that was not his.  They made fun that he is not qualified for the job.

Yeah it's 2009 and sometimes a skit is just a skit so you shouldn't go fishing for stuff that isn't there.  it will always be us against the world if that is how we choose to see it.  not everyone is against us.

Was it wise to use newbie Abby Elliot in the opening as Rachel maybe not but they do have to start incorporating the 2 newbie girls into skits because Kristin Wiig can only do so  much.  I think she got a few of Rachels mannerisms right she definitely had the slanted mouth thing going on.  She maybe could have lowered her voice so it wasn't so squeaky but other than that she was okay.  Look i didn't like any of Amy Poehlers skits when she first started but she grew on me.

The sad part in all this is that Rachel Maddow is herself funnier than SNL's parody of her.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PSfy95LntRM

I wasn't too offended. It's SNL, quite frankly, they could mock anyone and I wouldn't mind.

Besides, you have to realize, SNL knows their audience, and yes, the joke may have been very 16 year old boy, but so many 16 year old boys watch the show that I'm guessing a good group of their veiwers enjoyed the bit. Much like so many theater dorks watch the show that they (like myself) were rolling on the floor during the Broadway skit.

And I agree that the skit wasn't about Rachel Maddow, it was about corrupt politicians.

Everyone keeps saying that SNL "used to be funny".  They always bring up the early days or the Dennis Miller/Phil Hartman days.  But I've been looking at past episodes while at my mother's house over the holidays and really can't see how this show lasted as long as it did.  In hindsight, it's not that funny at all.  It's just succeeding generations of dumb frat boy humor that gets less humorous with every season.

Give me "Kids In The Hall" any day of the week.

"Those who restrain desire, do so because theirs is weak enough to be restrained" - William Blake

Yeah, she WISHES she was as cute as Rachel. 

http://www.theplanetcast.proboards106.com

Being the Maddow fan that I am, as soon as I saw the opening title I thought it was going to be a parody on The Rachel Maddow Show. So when I first watched it, I saw it as Sarah saw it. Even though I have rewatched the skit a few times to pick up more on the Burris and Blago stuff, I don't see any of it as being funny. I guess my main complaint is that if they are going to put on a show, it should be at least funny in some aspect...and to me, this failed on everything.

"I have accomplished what I always dreamed of and feared impossible." -Fay Fuller, first woman to summit Mount Rainier

At least according to her latest tweet.

Rachel just put her response to the skit up on twitter:

http://twitter.com/maddow

Sorry to see it, but SNL seems to be headed back to the bottom-feeding area where it lives when it can't get talent like Tina Fey or Justin Timberlake and Beyonce to grace the stage.

The Burris portion was waaay too long and the Blogo part missed some of the major laughs that could have been milked from the hair and the fact the man won't go away--he's a veritible treasure trove of jokes (as Rachel Maddow herself proved) and SNL's writers didn't hit any of them. They seemed content to have Blogo pick on "Rachel" whom they'd just used entirely as a "straight" man for Burris.

Funny, that, having the gay girl play the straight man...not.

Seana James