Everyone loves a good joke, especially if it’s at the expense of an elected official. For years politicians have been the source of material for the late night shows. Shows like “The Tonight Show”, “The Late Show with David Letterman” and “Saturday Night Live” are notorious for their political satire. It’s always a treat when the politician being poked fun at makes an appearance and can laugh at themselves. On Saturday night, Governor Sarah Palin did just that. Sarah Palin stopped by the “SNL” studios and made an appearance in a couple of sketches. Although she didn’t say very much, it was obvious she was having fun with it.
Over the years we’ve seen politicians that are often the bud of jokes on late night television make appearances. I remember President Bill Clinton playing the saxophone on “The Arsenio Hall Show”. Janet Reno made an appearance on “SNL” in 2001 and in 2002 Al Gore hosted the show. So why would politicians appear on shows that make fun of them? Well the answer has more to do with who’s watching those shows. Today, younger adults are getting their information from shows like “The Daily Show” or “The Colbert Report”. “Saturday Night Live’s” Weekend Update is so popular that they have a special Weekend Update on Thursdays. The candidates are always campaigning for votes; they want to win people over. So they go on these shows to look more human. People can watch and see that they are people too, and they can laugh at themselves. These shows have a huge followings. Sarah Palin’s appearance on “SNL” was the show’s highest rated episode in 14 years.
With less than 2 weeks until Election Day, we can expect the candidates to step up the campaigning until election night. So I’ll expect the jokes and the sketches to get even funnier as “E-Day” approaches. Although I love the sketches and jokes, my favorite form of political satire comes from Mike Luckovich, a national syndicated political cartoonist. I think his drawings are pretty right on!
