Live From New York - James H. Miller [235]
In 1996 and again to an even greater degree in 2000, Saturday Night Live returned to its richest vein of humor, American politics, and in the process the show rejuvenated itself for the umpty-umpth time. The cast was prodigious, the writing team witty and self-confident, the satire biting. Darrell Hammond, one of the most gifted impressionists in the show’s mimicky history, mastered Bill Clinton, Jesse Jackson, and the hard-to-impersonate Al Gore (and on nights when announcer Don Pardo was unavailable, Hammond would fill in for him, unbeknownst to viewers, with another spot-on impersonation). Will Ferrell, the cast’s most versatile utility player, made his version of George W. Bush easily as iconic as Chevy Chase’s Gerald Ford of a quarter-century earlier. Ferrell’s impression was accurate, hilarious, and inspired.
The faux Ford and the bogus Bush were blood brothers. Saturday Night Live seemed to have come full circle, back to its roots. Those predicting the show’s demise skulked back into the shadows — poised, of course, to return at any given moment. Ratings rose, the show surged again in popularity, and the real Al Gore and his aides studied SNL’s parody of a presidential debate to help understand where Gore had gone wrong with his own debate performance.
AL GORE, Host:
That is true actually. It’s not that I set about to use it. It is true though that during the prep for the second debate, somebody brought in the tape — I didn’t ask to see it or consciously use it as a tool — but somebody brought it in and said, “You should watch this.” And I think it was a way of that person, I can’t remember who it was, making a point that the first debate gave grist to the mill for lampooning the sighing and so forth, and that sort of critique that came after the first debate. I think it did have an effect, yes. And I thought it was very funny.
RUDOLPH GIULIANI, Host:
Some of my political advisers said it was a bad idea for me to host Saturday Night Live. Absolutely. Some of them thought either you could step over the line and do something really offensive to people — it’s one thing for comedians to do that, but it’s another thing for politicians to do it — or you could really make a fool out of yourself, where you could stand out there for an hour and a half and nobody would laugh at anything.
But of the experiences I had while I was mayor, that was one of the most enjoyable. It was just a great experience. I had been on the show once before that. I had opened the show with Governor Pataki, in which we got into this argument about is it like New York City or New York State? And so I was familiar with the show to that extent. But the idea of doing the whole thing — at first I didn’t think I could do it, and Lorne convinced me I could, and I’m glad I did. The response was wonderful. It was absolutely wonderful.
When I hosted, I found that the excitement level of doing live television really adds a tremendous amount to the show. Oh sure, I was nervous. I’d never done that before. I did a lot of public speaking of all different kinds, and I had performed maybe three or four times with the Inner Circle up until then, but I never had to like carry all those different skits. But it was great, great fun.
It was much less difficult than I thought it would be because of Lorne and how professional they all are. They really take you through it and they sort of teach you how to do it. Lorne organizes the show like a lawyer organizes a great trial. He has a whole pattern and format for it. And it turns out that the show was done in the same office building in which I practiced law for four years. So I spent a week preparing it and I felt like I was back preparing for a big trial.
They wanted me