Osama’s death on SNL

During late Sunday night/into the early hours of Monday morning, my fellow Clackers and I went onto the listserv to discuss history being made … the death of Osama bin Laden. We talked about a bunch of subjects that night/morning, which other Clackers have written about. An wrote about how television still impacts how we experience history. Michael wrote about how we use the internet — Facebook and Twitter in particular — to spread and discover important news. The discussion also lead to us wondering what Saturday Night Live might do this Saturday. NOTE: as you read my suggestion, understand that I thought of the joke before we found out his body was put out to sea. Also, I was on about 4 hours of sleep when I heard the news, so my mind was naturally going to dark humor at that point — I also didn’t think of it as a SNL skit until it was suggested.

Me: I mentioned this on Twitter, but since we have his body, anyone else thinking of a Weekend at Bernie’s type scenario to capture more terrorists? Just a thought.

Keith: I smell an SNL skit!

Me: I smell it, too. If they steal my idea, though, I might have to crack some comedic skulls. Unless they offer me a job … Does anyone else want to guess what the SNL skit is going to be Saturday?

Chuck: He’s not considered dead until Trump sees the long-form death certificate. I predict Darrell Hammond will have to come back and do a Trump bit involving the death certificate.

Keith: I’m almost willing to guess that they’ll do nothing at all. It’s interesting to me that, as long as I can remember, I would see a notable news item and immediately wonder what SNL will do to parody it. And then they’d just disappoint the hell out of me by merely mentioning it on Weekend Update. My best guess would be SNL will mention it on Weekend Update, and the Cold Open might be about the Royal Wedding. And the host (Tina Fey) will do an obligatory “fuck yeah!” mention in her monologue for a quick and easy cheer from the crowd. Also, being that Fey is hosting, I might expect something more with her as Palin in the Cold Open … so maybe they’d tie that in somehow.

Ivey: Yeah, I think Trump/WHCA Dinner would make a much more funny (and, frankly, appropriate) source.

Me: I’m also wondering if they are going to use Obama’s speech in some way. As I was listening to the speech, I kept hearing Fred Armisen‘s impersonation.

Chuck: They could still drag Hammond back to be Trump to Fey’s Palin and do a bit about having to switch from “Birthers” to “Deathers” and insist on seeing the long-form death certificate.

Michael: There will be a SNL “We’ll Be Right Back” placard that slowly fades in before the first commercial break. In it, we’ll be introduced to a scene in the middle of the ocean, an actor portraying Bin Laden in a little sailboat with no wind for its sail, the canvas flapping impotently on the mast. Bin Laden is rowing off into the distance with Christopher Cross’ “Sailing” playing in the background. The piece lasts all of 5 seconds … then fades out to the commercial. …

What do you think? What will SNL come up with? Will they pass on making fun of Osama’s death? Should they pass on making fun of his death?

Clacked by Katie Schenkel
on May 07, 2011 @ 10:00 EST5EDT