‘SNL’ excited to tackle the election season

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Finding the funny in McCain
Hammond feels similarly about McCain, who hosted the show in 2002 and made a funny guest appearance last season. McCain’s sense of humor, Hammond says, made him “some serious friends here.”

Neither, though, has been obvious fodder for comedy. To many, Obama has seemed too heroic, too admirable to poke fun at. McCain material has centered on his age.

“Obama and McCain both have this thing ‘good guy, works hard, does well,”’ says Hammond. “They both have this American ideal.”

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Hammond thinks the key to McCain on “SNL” will be putting him in unusual situations. Armisen believes the more the country gets to know Obama, the more fleshed out the character will be — or as Michaels says, “I’m not sure if familiarity breeds contempt, but it definitely can lead to some laughs.”

With so many focused on the election, critics will be watching “SNL.” Last season’s shows (which also included a segment of Fey supporting Hillary Clinton by declaring “bitch is the new black”) caused some to call “SNL” Clinton-biased.

‘We’re not taking this assignment lightly’
Others questioned the racial appropriateness of Armisen — whose ancestry is Japanese, Venezuelan and German — playing Obama.

But “SNL” has a long history of playing characters across gender (Ferrell’s Janet Reno) and race (Hammond’s Jackson or Billy Crystal’s Sammy Davis Jr.).

“I’m a bit of an optimist, so I try to focus on the good things people said,” Armisen says. “If there’s criticism, I feel like, great, let’s talk about it.” Hammond points out that they are, after all, a sketch team with only so many resources: “I’m as sensitive to it as the next person, but we study these guys. We’re not taking this assignment lightly.”

The election-year observations and parodies of “SNL” have a track record of reverberating with audiences. Hammond’s Al Gore in the show’s mock debates of 2000 made the term “lock box” one of the most memorable of the campaign.

“We don’t do comedy of indictment,” says Michaels. “We let the audience make the decisions. We’re nonpartisan. You have the greatest influence when you let the audience make their own decisions.”

In the bizarre, ever-shifting world of “Saturday Night Live,” pointing exactly where parody and reality end, where influence and refraction separate, is, in the end, impossible.

“That’s the thing about ‘SNL,”’ says Hammond. “After a while, I just quit trying to grasp it. You’re standing in the hallway and Hillary walks by. There’s a llama over there and a sword eater over there. People are dancing by Mick Jagger.

“It’s all a lot larger than life.”

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