'SNL' mocks Obama's lackluster debate appearance

By Claire Zulkey

Oct. 7, 2012 12 AM PT

&amp;lt;br /&amp;gt;&amp;lt;br /&amp;gt;“SNL,” which typically veers left in its politics, had no problem taking &amp;lt;runtime:topic id=”PEPLT007408”&amp;gt;President Obama&amp;lt;/runtime:topic&amp;gt; to task last night for his lackluster appearance in Wednesday night’s debate. The &amp;lt;a href=”https://www.hulu.com/watch/409936#i1,p0,d2”&amp;gt;cold open&amp;lt;/a&amp;gt;, which featured Chris Parnell returning as Jim Lehrer, rambled a bit until it found its main thrust, which was that an altitude-sick Obama contemplated other topics as Mitt Romney took full advantage, even claiming that &amp;lt;em&amp;gt;he &amp;lt;/em&amp;gt;killed Osama bin Laden. During Weekend Update, &amp;lt;runtime:topic id=”PECLB0000008864”&amp;gt;Seth Meyers&amp;lt;/runtime:topic&amp;gt; continued to pile on, announcing that Fox News (a frequent target of “SNL”) could claim that it got the news right for once, even comparing Obama to &amp;lt;runtime:topic id=”PEHST000385”&amp;gt;Jimmy Carter&amp;lt;/runtime:topic&amp;gt;. Finally, &amp;lt;a href=”https://www.hulu.com/watch/409934#i2,p0,d2”&amp;gt;Big Bird&amp;lt;/a&amp;gt;appeared to add a sweeter note to the proceedings (it would have felt wrong for Big Bird to have a political slant.)&amp;lt;p&amp;gt;The most pointed sketch, however, mocked MSNBC for considering the debate “the worst thing that ever happened anywhere.” In the segment, Kenan Thompson played an &amp;lt;runtime:topic id=”PERLL000236”&amp;gt;Al Sharpton&amp;lt;/runtime:topic&amp;gt; struggling to come up with any number of excuses for why Obama performed the way he did, positing that perhaps Romney and Obama switched bodies, or that with “no way” to know exactly how high above sea level Denver is, Obama struggled with an altitude “upwards of a million” feet above Earth. Cecily Strong took over as &amp;lt;runtime:topic id=”PECLB000005187”&amp;gt;Rachel Maddow&amp;lt;/runtime:topic&amp;gt;, who decided to look on the bright side by focusing smugly on one of Romney’s few slips of the tongue and then gloating over an unflattering frame of Romney (“Nice face, governor”).&amp;lt;/p&amp;gt;&amp;lt;p&amp;gt;Meanwhile, &amp;lt;runtime:topic id=”PECLB0000006670”&amp;gt;Jason Sudeikis&amp;lt;/runtime:topic&amp;gt; ably took over a blustery, loud-mouthed Chris Matthews from Darrell Hammond. As “SNL” has not apologized for or denied its lefty tendencies in the past, it seemed like the writing staff in general was behind Sudeikis-as-Matthews’ colorful line basically advising Obama to stop being a pansy in his next debate.&amp;lt;/p&amp;gt;&amp;lt;p&amp;gt;When the episode wasn’t tackling politics, however, &amp;lt;runtime:topic id=”PCELB000116”&amp;gt;Kate McKinnon&amp;lt;/runtime:topic&amp;gt; grabbed the majority of the laughs thanks to her wide variety of impressions. In a bit about &amp;lt;a href=”https://www.hulu.com/watch/409933#i1,p0,d2”&amp;gt;lesser-known Bond girls&amp;lt;/a&amp;gt;, she played Jodie Foster as well as Ellen Degeneres in addition to taking on TLC’s Theresa Caputo, AKA &amp;lt;a href=”https://www.nbc.com/saturday-night-live/video/long-island-medium/1419928”&amp;gt;The Long Island Medium&amp;lt;/a&amp;gt; in another sketch. Her silliest moment came playing &amp;lt;a href=”https://www.hulu.com/watch/409938#i2,p0,d2”&amp;gt;Cecilia Gimenez,&amp;lt;/a&amp;gt; known for her botched attempt to restore an old religious painting in Spain. McKinnon as Gimenez explains that she merely painted Jesus as she saw him, including his scary black eyes: “Jesus, why you look like a shark?” &amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;lt;/p&amp;gt;&amp;lt;p&amp;gt;Next week “SNL” returns live with its first female host of the season, Christina Applegate, and musical guest Passion Pit.&amp;lt;/p&amp;gt;&amp;lt;p&amp;gt;&amp;lt;strong&amp;gt;ALSO:&amp;lt;/strong&amp;gt;&amp;lt;/p&amp;gt;&amp;lt;p&amp;gt;&amp;lt;a href=”https://www.latimes.com/entertainment/music/posts/la-et-ms-adeles-skyfall-bond-review-20121004,0,4303255.story”&amp;gt;Adele’s ‘Skyfall’ is in tune with James Bond history&amp;lt;/a&amp;gt;&amp;lt;/p&amp;gt;&amp;lt;p&amp;gt;&amp;lt;a href=”https://www.latimes.com/news/politics/la-pn-rumble-2012-stewart-oreilly-20121006,0,4571447.story”&amp;gt;Rumble 2012: Stewart, O’Reilly duke it out in spirited debate&amp;lt;/a&amp;gt;&amp;lt;/p&amp;gt;&amp;lt;p&amp;gt;&amp;lt;a href=”https://www.latimes.com/entertainment/tv/showtracker/la-et-st-snl-ann-romney-joseph-gordon-levitt-20120923,0,1054635.story”&amp;gt;Female cast members take the lead on ‘SNL’ with Joseph Gordon-Levitt&amp;lt;/a&amp;gt;&amp;lt;/p&amp;gt;&amp;lt;p&amp;gt;&amp;lt;a href=”https://twitter.com/Zulkey”&amp;gt;twitter.com/Zulkey&amp;lt;/a&amp;gt;&amp;lt;/p&amp;gt;

‘SNL’ mocks Obama’s lackluster debate appearance

More to Read

More From the Los Angeles Times