Looking out of the window

Catch a glimpse of Amy Poehler rapping while Seth Meyers and Sarah Palin get into the groove on SNL: http://www.salon.com/opinion/walsh/?last_story=/opinion/walsh/election_2008/2008/10/19/palin_snl

Finished watching Saturday Night Live just now. I’d put it on download today afternoon as a matter of routine and forgotten about it , but got very excited after coming to know that Sarah Palin was going to be on the show. If you’ve been following the show, SNL has been poking quite a lot of fun at her expense. Tina Fey who has an uncanny resemblance to the vice-presidential nominee does a killing impression of Palin which by now has become famous on YouTube and other places on the net. Her “I can see Russia from my window” bit alone has had everyone talking. E News (yes they talk about things like that sometimes, . Hollywood gossip is not just about celebrity babies!) actually did a bit on whether Hollywood with its liberal leanings and Obama fan following was taking the vitriol against Sarah Palin too far.

I wasn’t very surprised to know she’d be on the show. They did have McCain on too, a few weeks ago when Ashton Kutcher was the host. So my verdict, did she impress. Yes and no. Sarah Palin the concept hit the nail through and through. Sarah Palin the person, err… a different story all together.

The cast and guest stars did a wonderful job. Tina Fey, Amy Poehler, Seth Meyers, Alec Baldwin-  all of them. Amy Poehler’s rap song where she’s pretending to be Palin is so completely hillarious. Tina Fey’s signature impression of course did not disappoint. The sketch of her as Palin addresing a press conference where she says how nice it is to be talking to both the ‘liberal media elite’ and the ‘media regular elite’ was classic.

But the lady in question came across as stiff, insipid and pointedly uncomfortable, a contradiction for a woman who prides herself on being all folksy and regular, just like Joe the Plumber, her Frankenstein creation. McCain had been more likable on his old man sketch, funnier and more natural. But as Sarah Palin chimed and grooved along with Seth Meyers on the Weekend Update segment, it seemed like she was trying hard to fit in with ‘all the cool kids’.

But what I really admire was the ability on both ends to have a laugh at their own expense without taking it to heart. It is gratifying for me to know maybe freedom of expression still has a chance in a world where people’s patience is very short with personal jabs. It is getting worse in India where the slightest attempt at satire on part of the media threatens to spew into violence and retribution. It happened in 1999 when the body of a senior cartoonist from Outlook was found dumped by a highway. All over some unflattering caricatures of Shivsena Supremo, Bal Thakarey in the magazine.

That being the extreme of course, I find an over sensitivity among Indian audiences and opinion leaders today that sometimes reminds me of whiny children who complain to their parents about someone picking on them. Humour is a far stretch, innocuous comments taken in the wrong spirit have led to some bottle smashing and mud slinging and heated letter writing before you can say ‘what just happened?’ The case of the Saamana feature which made fun of  Maharashtrian politician Narayan Rane’s status in the Congress likening him to a new bride is perhaps the most recent example. A caricature along side showed him in bridal attire. The paper’s office was attacked and vandalized and some signature Indian effigy burning took place, all this over a badly done Photoshop job.

Yes, it is wrong to make racist, sexist or castiest jokes, and maybe its impolite to get very personal about public figures. But there is also some genuine comedy to be found in this conflict that is not always offensive and certainly doesn’t trivialize the issue. It is not easy to be laughed at.  But just because someone fails to see the humour in a situation, is it fair to deny others the right to do so. I would simply say, lighten up people- either grow a sense of humour, or a thicker hide.