'SNL' Sought Conservative Appeal With Shane Gillis Hire

[Scurrilous]

<snip>

"Saturday Night Live” was looking to shake things up with the casting of Shane Gillis — and it did, albeit unintentionally.

According to sources, the long-running NBC comedy show and series mastermind Lorne Michaels were actively looking to cast a comedian for its new season who would appeal to more conservative viewers. This was meant to counteract the appearance of a liberal bias on the show, given that it has seen a major resurgence in popularity in recent years with Alec Baldwin regularly portraying President Donald Trump while other cast members and guest stars have played members of his administration and those in his orbit.

“SNL” typically recruits cast members from improv troupes like The Groundlings, Second City, and The Upright Citizens Brigade, with the belief that even though they may lack onscreen acting experience, their time onstage with those groups would prepare them for the rigors of “SNL’s” weekly schedule. Auditions for such performers usually consist of character bits and celebrity impressions. It is believed that Gillis, who has no credited onscreen acting experience, auditioned using a portion of his stand up routine."

https://variety.com/2019/tv/news/snl-conservative-shane-gillis-hire-1203339723/

[Initech]

1. Holy crap, that's a 30 Rock episode come to life.

[Scurrilous]

24. The Chuckle Hut!

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Stone_Mountain_(30_Rock)

[Initech]

25. I need to work this chuckle out of my system!

[WhiskeyGrinder]

2. What, conservatives like racist comedy? Huh.

[dhol82]

3. Why would they want to attract conservative viewers?

[912gdm]

13. ratings..

improves revenue. it's a business

[dhol82]

37. Doubt conservatives would stay.

The humor is way too edgy.

[Hortensis]

22. The show has an agenda. Maybe they feel the times are

right for trying to use SNL to create feelings of commonality. Or maybe as a political satire show, that functions "as a time capsule of political climate for future generations," they want to make it a more representative, accurate one if they can.

That doesn't mean appealing to the rabid right. Not all conservatives are alike by any means, any more than the entire left was yelling "lock her up" from inside our convention while Repubs did the same from outside.

This discusses who viewers are, plenty of younger ones 18-34 and 35-54. Viewership maps for 3 episodes are interesting.

https://www.broadcastingcable.com/news/heres-whos-watching-saturday-night-live-where-theyre-watching-it

[Clash City Rocker]

4. The problem is, conservatives rarely get comedy

Those that get it (Ben Stein comes to mind) are only funny when they avoid political issues, because conservative “humor” tends to attack the weak to support the powerful, and most people just see it as bullying. See Rush Limbaugh’s sense of “humor” for a textbook example.

[LaGizdelaMoe]

16. The last time I heard a conservative

The last time I heard a conservative reference Ben Stein in a comedic context was in the 1990's when his film career was dead and he was eeking out broadcast existence on Comedy Central. No, most of the conservatives or libertarians I've had interactions with just don't seem to find modern comedy funny. The problem is not that they don't get it. No, they get it; they just don't find it funny. They figured out the comedic schticks, the various patterns of the jokes and bits, and they proportedly predict what they think the comedian is gonna say based on the material of their past performances. "Oh, it's Amy Schumer; more of 'muh vagina'", "Oh, it's Seth Rogan; DUDE WEED and his nohomo/let's-totally-play-up-the-homo-vibe-friendships" and such. If comedy is about subverting expectations, how can you subvert the expectations of someone who knows how you're gonna subvert their expectations, or even what you think their expectations are?
The last times I even heard my conservative co-workers talking about SNL, they were laughing at it not because they thought it was funny, because they considered the talked-about bits to be absurd and pitiful, so un-funny it was hill areas. They were referencing the Hillary-playing-Hallelujah opening skit, and the ode to Mueller, IIRC.

[JI7]

17. i think the biggest problem is their lack of self deprecation and always viewing themselves as

victims .

and tha'ts what their comedy usually is about . how they are victims.

[LaGizdelaMoe]

18. Re: self-deprecation, humor, and victimhood

If you consider yourself a victim, why would you be showing self-deprecation to the person who is mocking you, whom you believe is victimizing you?
Can black humor and gallows humor be discussed in an academic/theoretical manner without breaking TOS?

[JI7]

19. their idea of being mocked is things like gay people getting married

woman wanting equal pay for equal work.

[chowder66]

5. What the hell? They satirize both parties. I'm so tired of this 'counteracting' crap. nt

[Caliman73]

15. They do satirize both parties. The reality however is that comedy has a decidedly liberal bias.

The core of comedy is the ability to laugh at oneself and the absurdities of life. Conservatives are predicated on maintaining power structures while comedy in and of itself has typically been about upending social norms. The "fool" or court jester would make fun of the king or nobles in ways that spoke truth to power but using comedy that was accessible. Comedy today discusses the mundane or it points out the absurdities within our social norms as they relate to power imbalances.

Conservative "comedy" is about preserving power structures and there really isn't anything funny about that.

[Hortensis]

23. I see that in political cartoons. Cartoons are most typically delivery

vehicles for insults and lies, and the "humor" is what receptive minds get from their hostility. A large majority of them on most subjects are conservative, interesting in itself, though you can find swells of hostile left themes, sadly always against Democrats of course, as well.

But in any case, very few capture a genuine political truth in one exquisitely descriptive picture, the essence of cartoons; that's not what most are intended to do, any more than Fox is to inform. Of course, I don't exactly bring the mindset they're designed for, so I don't get the appropriate rush of delight that rely on imagined truths, like this:



Have to admit, seeing Nancy drawn as a bikini babe did actually make me chuckle.

[Caliman73]

34. Oh yeah. Their cartoons totally suck.

I mean, what is the context of the cartoon? Who is carrying Pelosi's luggage? Her husband? Staff? I mean I guess you can infer that it is just some "average person" based on the t-shirt. I get that they are trying to paint Pelosi as a hypocrite for having money but being in a party that represents non-wealthy people. It just doesn't land, like you said, unless it feeds your already established hatred of Pelosi and Democrats in general.

[Hortensis]

36. :) Check her t-shirt ("I'm with 99%) with the arrow

pointing to the poor, overworked, abused worker. They're saying she's callous, corrupt, exploitative instead of serving.

Amaf, although I grabbed this as a conservative cartoon because it was so ridiculous, it'd work even better to push the lies of the hostile left. You know, evil Democratic establishment, conservative elites masquerading as liberal, no real difference from the Republicans.

Yes, for those who buy the lies, no doubt it's a hoot. This one's unmistakable and far more "clever" than most.



But, interestingly, having observed for years now that by far most political cartoons are conservative-against-liberal, right now what's googling up is heavily left-against-left, no doubt because all the primary events are on the left, but as always defeating the Democratic Party is the one big goal for hostiles from both sides, and various continents.

[TeamPooka]

26. Conservatism has a racism, sexism, anti-immigrant bais that's hard to shake. It defines them.

Not the whole "cut taxes" stuff.
It's the hate.

[Caliman73]

29. Yes it does.

Conservatives believe fundamentally that there is a hierarchy, a "natural order" and that order has been defined by gender, skin color, religion, and wealth. Any disruption to that social order is earth shattering. Their "comedy" seems to be mostly about keeping people in their place and bolstering the attitudes that they support.

[spanone]

6. Well Lorne, you got what you wanted.

should've just hired asshole 'funnyman' dennis miller

[Caliman73]

14. Miller was a SNL cast member from 1985 to 1991.

He was probably always conservative, but he at least made fun of powerful people (I.E Reagan and Bush) during his time at SNL. Now he's just a pathetic bootlicker.

[BannonsLiver]

28. Miller is a 9/11 Republican

He got rattled and switched because he was terrified about what happened. Unfortunately this was a thing with some people after that day. After a while he realized it was good for business and he could make a lot of money on the Indian casino circuit in red states. He performs in mine frequently.

https://www.google.com/amp/s/film.avclub.com/never-forgot-9-entertainers-who-were-changed-by-9-11-1798240619/amp

[Caliman73]

31. Here is another article that corroborates your thoughts but also adds a view.

This is where I got some of my idea that Miller may have always leaned right. I think Al Franken commented on it, as he worked with Miller during his SNL run. Sorry the article may be dated, it is from 2014.

https://uproxx.com/tv/the-story-of-dennis-miller-going-full-conservative/

[Stallion]

7. Republicons Aren't Funny

...they're pathetic

[JI7]

8. wow SNL/ COMEDY wants to play the Both Sides bs also

there are things that should be ridiculed more sometimes.

[hunter]

9. The liberal bias of reality strikes again.

"Conservative" humor isn't funny, it's just mean.

mean, adjective

/mēn/

1. unwilling to give or share things, especially money; not generous.

2. unkind, spiteful, or unfair.

3. poor in quality and appearance; shabby.

[UTUSN]

10. Good catch!1

[lunasun]

11. Thanks this was my thought a few days ago that maybe SNL was trying to balance the

Trump skits in the worst way by hiring someone trump lovers could laugh with but they were sloppy enough to not realize what a creep this guy was or perhaps that ithe word would get out on how bad his past . Plus it is suspected even worse stuff he scrubbed before the announcement meaning there was probably stuff way below this crap

“A little more than 21 minutes into “Ep 146 – Live from Shane’s Parent’s Basement,” while talking about the Battle of Gettysburg, Gillis refers to soldiers yelling as “so gay.” About 29 minutes into the podcast, Gillis uses the word “retard,” and “f-ggot,” and shortly afterward he and McCusker joke about “hot Southern boys” being raped during the Civil War, comparing it to “having gay sex in jail.”

Gillis, in describing women who disguised themselves as men to fight in the war, refers to them as “flat chested f—ing bitch[es].”
He issued a statement last Thursday addressing the situation, writing in part, “My intention is never to hurt anyone but I am trying to be the best comedian I can be and sometimes that requires risks”

OK your risks got you fired before hired bigot
I’m sure you’ll carry on with some foul mouthed garbage

[Wounded Bear]

12. Conservative comedy is an oxymoron...

or maybe it's just moronic.

[ProfessorGAC]

20. I Think It Can Be Both, Bear

Stupid and unfunny are not mutually exclusive

[Wounded Bear]

21. True...nt

[VOX]

27. "Take Hillary, PLEASE!" ahahah "Trump could get to California faster if he came through illegally!"

Right-wing humor ISN’T funny, ever. Two words: Dennis Miller.

Real humor comes from the little guy, the misfit, the outsider; all of whom take popular-cultural happenings/conventions/history, etc. and return it to us with a skewed perspective that reveals some truth. It NEVER involves “punching down” on any weaker group. From Chaplin to Richard Pryor to Amy Schumer to George Carlin to Phyllis Diller— on and on— outsiders all.

In contrast, right-wing “humor” is constantly “punching down”; that’s about all it does. And this recently hired/fired new/gone guy on SNL is the perfect laboratory specimen— “humor” squeezed from race-baiting and the browbeating of women.

It’s past time for Lorne Michaels to retire if he thinks a conservative “comic” will fluff up his dinosaur of a show. And I say that as someone who watched SNL’s first three seasons religiously.

[The Genealogist]

32. Very much agree re: conservative "humor" punching down

Racist, sexist , homophobic and xenophobic jokes and cracks. Any group conservatives consider beneath them are the brunt of their jokes. Then they get all mad when you call them on their bigotry.

[bullwinkle428]

35. Remember when Fox News tried to make their own version of "The Daily Show",

and they opened with a sketch featuring Rush Limbaugh as President and Ann Coulter as his VP? I believe the show was cancelled after the 1st episode, meaning that even Fox News viewers rejected it as a complete failure.

[diva77]

38. was there much diversity in his lineup of talk show hosts?

[Downtown Hound]

30. Conservatives aren't funny SNL

Their idea of humor is picking up the nerdy kid or social outcast and stuffing them in a garbage can. That's what conservatives think is funny.

But I guess you just learned that, given what just happened.

[PlanetBev]

33. I watched SNL from 1975 to 1980

The early years were the best. The original cast and writers were wonderful.

I think they should have taken that show off life support years ago.