Live from New York, It’s Election Night!
Studio 360 with Kurt Andersen
PRX
4.6 • 675 Ratings
🗓️ 7 November 2016
⏱️ 8 minutes
🧾️ Download transcript
Summary
Nobody defined the satirical style of “Saturday Night Live” more than Jim Downey. He wrote for the show for over 33 seasons and was SNL’s head writer for 10 years. Downey gives us a behind-the-scenes look at how SNL crafted political sketches throughout the years — including dealing with reluctant politicians, his favorite jokes that were too risqué for the air, and how cast members like Daryl Hammond developed their pitch-perfect impressions.
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Transcript
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| 0:00.0 | From PRX. |
| 0:06.4 | Studio 360. |
| 0:11.8 | Hi, this is Kurt, welcoming you to today's podcast feature. |
| 0:17.1 | During this election year, I didn't just read the New York Times and Slate and 538 for political commentary, although I read all of those. I also watched Saturday Night Live pretty religiously, like during the primaries where Larry David played Bernie Sanders. |
| 0:34.7 | Not a fan of the banks. They trample on the middle class. |
| 0:38.8 | They control Washington. |
| 0:40.5 | And why do they chain all that pens to the desks? |
| 0:43.5 | Who's trying to steal a pen from a bank? |
| 0:46.9 | And more recently, when Tom Hanks played a Trump supporter on the Black Jeopardy spoof. |
| 0:53.2 | They out here saying that every vote counts. |
| 0:56.0 | Oh, Doug again. |
| 0:57.1 | What is, come on, they already decided who wins the report happens. |
| 1:00.2 | Yes. |
| 1:01.3 | Yes. |
| 1:04.0 | Yes. |
| 1:06.0 | Oh, you all right, Doug. |
| 1:08.8 | That sketch was a brilliant nuanced take on class and race that I really didn't see anywhere else. |
| 1:16.6 | And, of course, there was, again and again, Alec Baldwin and Kate McKinnon, both of whom |
| 1:21.5 | delivered impressions of Donald Trump and Hillary Clinton that got at something deep about each of them. |
| 1:27.8 | This man is clearly unfit to be commander in chief. |
| 1:32.1 | He is a bully. |
| 1:34.4 | Shut up. |
... |
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