Time Out for Saturday Night Live

 

Being funny all the time is hard work.  But it is worth it because we all need laughter to give some balance to our lives and minimize the stress.  In fact, laughter is actually beneficial to us humans in a whole series of ways.  

But Saturday Night Live’s depiction on their December 13th program of the Governor of New York may have been funny for some, but it was also inappropriate.  Good humor, first of all, carries with it an element of truth buried in the satire.  When we connect this element it hits a cords and our funny bone at the same time. 

I categorize the kind of humor used in the Governor Paterson skit as “playground humor” because it strikes at a very immature element of human nature – one that profits from putting a person or a class of people down to garner a superior laugh or two.  Humor of this sort is the kind of thing a teacher would reprimand another child for saying or acting out on the playground at recess.    

Sadly this skit made Governor Paterson of New York, who happens to be blind, also appear to be incapable. That is where they lost any element of truth.  In so doing  it became more than just a putdown of a public servant but an entire group of people who have visual disabilities as well.  

Come on guys, there is enough valid stuff out there to use as a take off point for funny material.  You don’t need to make things up to gets laughs.  Truth can be much funnier that fiction – to bad the writers and producers at SNL couldn’t see that.  

If I were their teacher, I would give them a time out and make them think about that for awhile, maybe in a dark room with the lights out.