Satire is probably one of my favorite styles of comedy. It helps us see our problems and opens our eyes to some of the problems we have as a country, society, civilization, etc. Brian Dunphy wrote in the last chapter of Satire’s Brew: Mass Media and Coffee Beans, “Powerful satire reveals humanity and alters our perceptions of what we once believed. Effective satire holds up the mirror to society and makes us laugh at what we are as a culture and society” (211). We can see many examples of how this statement made by Dunphy is true. For example, we can look at shows like South Park and The Daily Show with Jon Stewart and clearly see that the shows capture the audience’s attention mainly by satire. A very powerful TV show that utilizes satire is Saturday Night Live. According to Dunphy, it is “one of the longest running American shows in TV history” and from the very start “the show immediately began satirizing the presidency, politicians, and American culture” (211). Personally, I have never really watched the show that much but I did see two pretty funny clips where SNL makes fun of President Obama and the way the government works.
The first SNL clip we had to watch was titled, Watch How a Bill Becomes a Law. In this short clip, SNL makes a parody of the skit, I’m Just a Bill in the show Schoolhouse Rock. Pretty much, the clip tries to explain to a little boy how a bill becomes a law and how the government works. Ironically (but not surprisingly), President Obama (Jay Pharoah) bullies the bill (played by Kenan Thompson, AHH Kenan & Kel. Those were the days…), pushes him off the stairs and introduces his friend, the Executive Order (Bobby Moynihan) who explains to the kid how the government really works. I found this clip to be really funny. The satire behind this skit is pretty straightforward in the sense that SNL is basically telling the nation that the President could do as he/she pleases without reaching out to congress first. Unfortunately, due to stubborn partisanship and crazy old men and women, the executive order is a very controversial issue and that’s why shows like SNL, South Park, and The Daily Show with Jon Stewart go and make fun of our government and society so that we can see the truth behind everything.
The second clip we had to watch titled, How He’s Doing, poked fun at the President (SURPRISE!) and whether or not people would change their vote according to certain circumstances. In this clip we have Kenan Thompson playing a talk show host while having Chris Rock, Jay Pharoah, Leslie Jones, and Sasheer Zamata act as panelists who are asked about their opinions on the President. The funniest part of the clip was when Kenan Thompson asked the panelists if they would have changed their vote if President Obama had done nothing to discipline his daughters for talking back at him. The panelists each tried giving justifications and explanations for the President’s actions but then end up criticizing him for not doing anything to his daughters. But at the end, when Kenan Thompson asked if they still would change the vote, they said no. I found this funny because I feel many people just support who they voted for regardless of what happens.
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