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Comic Riffs is a blog devoted to the comics fan. Come in, sit down and put your feet up as we celebrate, contemplate, eviscerate and pontificate on cartoons.
THE META-POST: When "SNL" presidents stage a comedy summit...
Because Comic Riffs often traffics in political humor -- and writes fairly regularly about the art of satire -- we offer this meta-post from Will Ferrell and the rest of the good folks at FunnyorDie.com.
Numerous political humorists interviewed by 'Riffs during the 2008 election said that while they view such shows as "The Colbert Report" as genuine satire, very rarely did they consider "Saturday Night Live" a true practitioner of that craft. More often, they said, "SNL" political sketches (many of which are written by decades-long staff writer Jim Downey) simply get mileage from proven comic premises.
So it's refreshing that this video clip -- which unites a handful of present and past "SNL" players doing their famed presidential impersonations -- contains more than a whiff of gen-u-ine satire amid the just-bein'-silly gags.
And we do hasten to note: The video, posted today on FunnyOrDie.com and directed by Ron Howard, does have a political motive: It was made in conjunction with Americans for Financial Reform, described as "a pro-regulation coalition of labor and consumer activists." Comic Riffs does not officially endorse or decry this political movement -- we're just too busy laughing at Dubya's punning of "Malaise potato chips." Not a politically satirical foodstuff -- just plain funny.
For the video, here's THE FUNNY-OR-DIE LINK.
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