Mediaite Presents: 35 Great SNL News Spoofs

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by Robert Quigley | 10:40 am, September 24th, 2009

» 10 comments

ford brokaw wolves Long before The Daily Show, long before The Colbert Report, Saturday Night Live was making fun of the news in a way that no one had ever seen before. Suddenly, establishment journalists like Barbara Walters were fair game. Jane Curtin and Dan Aykroyd riffed on the seething hostility between co-anchors. Heck, they even took on the 70s trend of sign language interpreters popping up in newscasts.

Oprah, Dateline, Geraldo Rivera… SNL‘s had distinctive takes on almost every major media presence over the years. And SNL‘s news spoofs aren’t just entertainment: it’s arguable that more Americans made up their minds about Sarah Palin based on SNL‘s Katie Couric/Sarah Palin interview than on the original interview itself. Stephen Colbert and John Stewart have done a lot in the news satire biz, but they still have some catching up to do.

In honor of the premiere of season 35 of SNL, we’ve pulled together 35 of SNL‘s choicest news anchor spoofs and Weekend Updates, spanning all seasons. Shoot us a comment or a tip if you think we’ve missed a good one.

~~We’re seriously counting on a good Glenn Beck skit…~~
Here it is.

Baba Wawa
Turning Barbara Walters into Elmer Fudd may have been one of the most dastardly stunts that SNL ever pulled off, but it was a game-changer for the show and for Walters. At one point, Walters personally confronted Gilda Radner and made her do the impression to her face. Presumably, the meeting involved wevewations, wapport, and wepartee.

The Today Show With Hoda and Kathy Lee
When it comes to the zaniness of Kathy Lee Gifford, the jokes write themselves. Still, Kristen Wiig’s command of Lee’s facial tics and body language, paired with Michaela Watkins’ portrayal of Hoda Kotb’s Today straight woman, result in pure absurdist joy.

Creepy, Creepy Dateline
Bill Hader really knows how to bring the creepy when he wants to, which is perfect for a Dateline sendup. No disrespect to actual Dateline correspondent Keith Morrison, but it takes a certain kind of nervous system to converse with murderers and victims of tragedy like you’re talking about the weather.

Gerald Ford was Eaten by Wolves
Carvey’s Tom Brokaw wants to vacation in Barbados for the winter, so he’s got to prerecord every possible way Gerald Ford could die, including gunshot, wolf attack, convenience store mountain lions, and Zimbabwean invasion. It’s funny cause it’s true?

Joe Wilson and Kanye: Really?
SNL spinoff Weekend Update Thursday started its second season with a bang last week, coming up with a “how the Joe Wilson thing happened” conspiracy theory involving restrooms and Michelle Bachman.

But the “Really?” segment was even better; there are few things more satisfying than hearing Amy Poehler and Seth Meyers repeatedly shouting “Really?” at notable shouters Kanye West and Joe Wilson.

Next: “Jane, you ignorant slut,” Wolf Blitzer, and more

Joe Coscarelli and Palika Makam contributed to the writing and compilation of this post.

Pages: 1 2 3 4 5 6 7

Andy Richter, Ann Coulter, Anna Nicole Smith, Arianna Huffington, barack obama, Ben Affleck, Bill Hader, Bill O'Reilly, Brian Fellow, Brian Williams, Casey Wilson, Chevy Chase, Chris Farley, Chris Rock, Dan Aykroyd, Dana Carvey, David Paterson, Don Ohlmeyer, Emily Litella, Fred Armisen, Geraldo Rivera, Gilda Radner, Gwynne Ifill, Hoda Kotb, Horatio Sanz, James Lipton, Jane Curtin, Jay Leno, Jimmy Fallon, Joe Biden, John Belushi, John McCain, Joy Behar, Kathy Lee GIfford, Katie Couric, Keith Morrison, keith olbermann, Kristen Wiig, larry king, Maya Rudolph, Michael Jackson, Michaela Watkins, Nancy Grace, Norm Macdonald, O.J. Simpson, Oprah Winfrey, Queen Latifah, Rachael Ray, Rachel Maddow, Richard Nixon, Richard Pryor, Rob Blagojevich, Roland Burris, Sarah Palin, Saturday Night Live, SNL, Suze Orman, Tina Fey, Tom Brokaw, Tracey Morgan, Walter Reed, Will Ferrell, Wolf Blitzer

Magister

This looks like a good collection with lots of entertainment potential, but it might be better titled “35 Great SNL Spoofs Available Online” because just off the top of my head, Gilda’s “Emily Litella”; The “Al Franken Decade’”; Al Franken as one-person, self-contained reporting unit and Weekend Update’s memorable Three Mile Island coverage are overlooked.

Still, a good post with lots of entertainment value. It’s just that if you’ve watched SNL for thirty-five years, you can think of things better than some of those listed above.
Magister

Oh, and let me add A. Whitney Brown’s “The Big Picture” to my little list.
Robert Quigley

@Magister: Emily Litella’s there, just on page six! Had to give some incentive to keep reading…

Good calls on Three Mile Island and A. Whitney Brown though. I also looked everywhere for John Belushi’s weatherman skit, but to no avail.
MarkEdwards

Completely.

Freaking.

Brilliant.

Thanxxxxxxxxxxxx for the laughs!
http://the-w.com/ CRZ

Sorry, I’m too lazy to read more than one page.

Were you worried you were going to run out of Internet if you didn’t break it up into seven pages? I hate when websites do that. SHAME!
Magister

@Robert Quigley: Sorry about that. I must’ve inadvertently skipped page six, but thanks for pointing it out because not only do you have her, but you also have a couple of really good ones on that page.

Good post.
http://www.twitter.com/kgotkin Kevin Gotkin

This is such a great piece! But I must be annoying and write a totally distracting comment: each and every one of the videos won’t load because of “international copyright restrictions” (I’m in France)! Imagine me all ready to laugh and giggle to myself here in Paris and suddenly I’m robbed (of course, your words are almost as good, Mr. Quigley!). Seroiusly, WTF.
Robert Quigley

@Kevin: Drat! ‘Hulu?’ More like, ‘vermoulu.’
http://www.facebook.com/people/Aaron-Guzman/776054874 Aaron Guzman

I am truly shocked that there was not a single mention of the “Assassination of Buckwheat.” No, honestly, I am shocked. For those too young to have seen it, when Eddie Murphy was on SNL during the early 80′s one of his recurring characters was an adult version of the Little Rascals’ ‘Buckwheat.’ During one episode, everything started normally but about 10 minutes into the show Weekend Update broke in with a special report about Buckwheat being shot while leaving a theater after a performance. The rest of the entire episode was a parody of the news reporting on the tragedy reminiscent of the 1981 assassination attempt on President Reagan, including constantly replaying the footage of Buckwheat being shot (in slow motion), corporate sponsorships of the special report (“The Death of Buckwheat: brought to you by …”) and the assassin’s high school yearbook photo where he was voted “Most Likely to Kill Buckwheat.” An article about the greatest SNL news parodies that lacks this masterpiece is an article written by someone who didn’t do much research on the subject.
jennielynsan

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