I'm not a paranoid person. But in this line of work, I occasionally run across news items that make me say, "OK, either I'm crazy, or everyone else is." I had one of those moments yesterday, when I saw that CNN decided to take up valuable air time to fact-check a skit from last weekend's "Saturday Night Live."
The skit in question starred Fred Armisen as President Barack Obama saying, "Because when you look at my record, it's very clear what I have done so far and that is: nothing." Pretty funny.
But it was no joke to crusading CNN reporter Kareen Wynter, who enlisted politifact.com editor Bill Adair (who surely had better things to do), to fact-check the jokes on Monday's edition of "The Situation Room."
Now, I don't need to explain to most of you why this is a foolish exercise. Even Adair told Wynter, "This is not a fair portrayal … of how Obama's done. But it's comedy, it doesn't have to be fair." Not even the Obama administration, not exactly known for turning the other cheek — deigned to comment on the SNL skit.
This is because Adair and the White House realize that comedy in general, and SNL in particular, has one mission and one mission only — to be funny. Even if, as Adair put it, "Saturday Night Live is a very important factor in how people get information about American politics," it doesn't mean every political joke is worthy of fact-checking, and certainly not a show that last week featured such intellectual heavyweights as Ryan Reynolds and Lady Gaga. Why stop at SNL, CNN? Why not go through great comedy shows of years past? A dig through old "Monty Python" scripts, for example, will lead to the stunning revelation that, in fact, Britain does not have a Ministry of Silly Walks.
And furthermore, I hate to be "this guy," but I don't remember anyone scrambling to fact-check the multitudes of jokes (deserved and otherwise) made about Sarah Palin last fall. I mean, if SNL is an important factor in American consumption of politics, shouldn't the barbs at a vice presidential candidate receive the same scrutiny as the satire of a sitting president who's safely ensconced in office for the next three years, barring high crimes and misdemeanors? Look what you've done, CNN. You've made me defend Saturday Night Live and Sarah Palin.
Listen, CNN, and listen well. At its best, comedy holds up a mirror to our society. Right now, people are nervous about jobs, health care, terrorism, Iran, North Korea and other things. In this environment, a gentle ribbing of the president is more than fair game, and is also far, far beneath your concern.
If CNN really wants to patrol the waters of comedy and so-called fake news, it can start with "The Daily Show" and "The Colbert Report", two so-called "comedy" shows that have been more or less anointed as trustworthy sources of information and have used that capital to attain access to the truly powerful. Some of the more notable guests on Jon Stewart's show have included: Obama, Joe Biden, Hillary Clinton, Al Gore, Joe Lieberman, Henry Kissinger, Colin Powell, Alan Greenspan, Barney Frank, Thomas Friedman, Chris Matthews, Mike Huckabee, Howard Dean, Rudy Giuliani, Mike Bloomberg, Pat Buchanan, Christopher Hitchens and Bill O'Reilly. That's a lot of scripts to get through, CNN. I suggest you get cracking.
