SNL recognizes MSNBC’s Keith Olbermann has jumped and french-kissed the shark
By LisaB on November 3, 2008 at 12:30 AM in Keith Olbermann, MSNBC, Media, Media Bias, Saturday Night Live
Keith Olbermann was lampooned on SNL last Saturday night. Now, being the butt of a SNL piece isn’t necessarily a negative. It can help you get attention and, generally, SNL implies “mass knowledge” of someone or something.
However, I’m thinking that being made fun of when you are deadly earnest and feeling your self-importance is not so positive. THAT means you’ve jumped the shark and now EVERYONE knows it. Heh. Keith has been feeling very good about himself for quite some time now. His “special comments” took off when he blasted President Bush some time ago, and Keith has since become agitated by Katie Couric, Hillary Clinton, and Geraldine Ferraro – all who have merited a “special comment.” (I’ve kindly provided a list below, of SOME of the Olbermann-related posts here at NQ.)
Trying very hard to imitate if not channel Edward R. Murrow, Olbermann, sees himself as a cable tv truthteller. His rants are actually truth-optional. Watching his “news” show is indulging in the television version of caveat emptor. Just try to find the objective facts.
Read the rest ->
Anyway, SNL finally got Olbermann on both his style and pomposity. The sketch was a bit long, but if you’ve ever watched Keith lose his mind on tv, you’ll recognize every bit of posturing, spitting, snarling and tortured phrasing usually found on his show. His faux intellectualism is capped only by the ridiculous historical references during the sketch. Yep. That was KO all right.
Here’s what eonline said about the sketch:
Forget Gigli, Ben Affleck, all is forgiven. Brilliantly skeweing partisan windbag Keith Olbermann on Saturday Night Live last night, Affleck did a dead-on impersonation of the sputtering, hyper-rhetorical MSNBC anchor, with the SNL writing staff serving up a devastating satirical critique. Yo, Keith, good night and good luck!
Olbermann, himself, crashed the closed-set rehearsal to watch Ben Affleck tune up his impersonation, as Politico mentioned on Halloween.
Ben Affleck, who’s hosting “Saturday Night Live” this week, was rehearsing a skit this afternoon mocking Keith Olbermann when Olbermann himself got past security to watch, according to a source with knowledge of the incident.
A source described the skit as “savage,” in portraying Olbermann as a deranged person living at home with his mother. Affleck, said a source, became uneasy with Olbermann in attendance at the 3 p.m., closed-set rehearsal.
Ben does a pretty good job capturing the “real Keith.” But he doesn’t quite reach the level of pomposity. He can’t. Keith is in a league of his own on that.
Here you go:
NQ Keith-related articles:
MSNBC moves Keith Olbermann from sober news chair to color commentary. Wait, he was doing “news?”
MSNBC Goes Off the Rails
Olbermann v. Milbank: The Back Story
Keith Olbermann Declares: Off with Dana Milbank’s Head
Keith’s Traintrum
Keith’s demand for a first class train ticket to attend Russert’s memorial.
Keith Olbermann – Useless
Keith makes Katie Couric “worst person in the world” for saying HRC got sexist treatment
Special Comment for Keith Olbermann
A NQ response to Keith’s “she’s a killer” rant against HRC
A website devoted to all things Keith: Olbermannwatch.com
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