awful timing by e!

so i tune into an snl rerun -- steve carell hosting is my excuse -- and it opens with a political sketch with an impersonation of TIM RUSSERT setting up a bush presser.


ouch.

 

Wonder if they dragged this one out of mothballs on purpose to take advantage of the recent news or whether this had in fact been scheduled long ago.

 

It was scheduled at least two weeks ago. Still horrible timing...

 

Why is it horrible timing? Should we pretend Tim Russert didn't die? The fact that he was parodied on SNL kind of speaks to his influence, yes?

 

gave me the heebee geebees is all i was saying. i fell eight days after his death was a bit soon to be airing sketches with him as a character.

 

Was I the only one who thought Russert and Jimmy James from NewsRadio could be twins?

 

Not to disparage the dead, but I've always thought Russert more closely resembled Randy Quaid.

 

anybody see family guy tonite? there's a hideously ugly woman who brian knocked up years earlier. at the end after she leaves there's a touching family moment, and peter breaks it up by saying to a teary-eyed brian, "you know i just figured it out. she looks like a really hot [audio deleted]." i found it on hulu. the line is "a really hot tim russert."

ouch.

 

Did you fall far?

 

Perhaps because it smacks of mocking the dead so soon after his death.

I realize Russert was monstrously influential. If he weren't, my father wouldn't have mentioned his death in a phone call from France. However, eight days after his death is a bit early to joke about him IMO.

 

Is it too early to start writing sketches about him? Absolutely. This was a rerun. I find it silly that when someone people like dies, we need to hurry up and erase anything about them so that no one is offended. Russert himself would probably think that's silly.

He was influential enough to be parodied on SNL. That parody is, in many ways, a tribute to his legacy. It is an honor to have a SNL skit written about you. Russert was, if nothing else, a newsman. I think we can put him into context without saying "oh my, let's sanitize this so no one is offended."

This is not a dig at shockey. It's just the way I feel in general.

 

I don't see why an impersonation of him on SNL is mocking his death. I really don't see anything wrong with it. I doubt when Tim Russert saw that skit he was fuming about it. He would probably laugh, so what's the big deal? I also never got the "so soon after his death" stuff, but I guess a lot of people feel that way. I guess I just take issue with the idea that one day it's too soon and, eventually, a day later it's appropriate.