Mitt Romney and Saturday Night Live

By Richard K. Barry

I've watched SNL over the years but haven't turned it on consistently in a long time. I just don't think it's that funny. To be fair, it's always been hit or miss, even in the early "glory days." Mostly, I've always felt that the whole SNL exercise was about proving, from the perspective of the audience, that you were "with it," that you got the joke. These are hip young performers riffing on the events of the day and that combination, in itself, is supposed to be enough for us all to tune in and nod, if not laugh, knowingly.

Still, in politics, it's important to show that you're cool enough to get the joke. Hell, even Nixon went on Laugh-In to say "sock it to me."

So far, the producers of SNL and Mitt Romney haven't been able to schedule an appearance, though Romney says he's open to the idea and SNL says the door is open, maybe in the fall.

As The Hill writes, "[t]he show frequently satirizes political elections, and can have a big impact cementing pre-existing narratives about the nature of the election and the candidates themselves."

If I were advising Romney, would I advise him to do the show? I'm not sure, but probably yes. What would they do, what kind of gag? Perhaps it would be something on his stiffness, his uncoolness, which wouldn't necessarily be a bad thing. Romney's team is slowly coming around to embracing their candidate's fundamental lack of charisma as a strength. You know, he's the prudent manager, the other guy is the rock star. Who do you want managing the economy?

I could see some very funny possibilities for a skit with that idea. In the grand scheme of things, Romney's best shot at humanizing himself has to be in self-parody.

SNL is a pretty good stage for that sort of thing. There, that's my advice, Mitt. Where do I send my bill?

Just for fun, here's Tricky Dick on Rowan and Martin's Laugh-In (Sept. 16, 1968). What a card.

(Cross-posted at Lippmann's Ghost.)