Althouse: The Church Lady interviews Ted Cruz and Donald Trump.

May 8, 2016

The Church Lady interviews Ted Cruz and Donald Trump.

24 comments:

traditionalguy said...: SNL is pro Trump. It's over.; 5/8/16, 6:47 AM
Greek Donkey said...: Painful; 5/8/16, 6:49 AM
Patrick said...: Why is it so hard for SNL to be funny? Guy who did Trump did a good job looking like Trump.; 5/8/16, 6:53 AM
Robert Cook said...: Dana Carvey did a poor job of imitating himself performing the Church Lady. Didn't they rehearse? Didn't he review tapes of his old performances?; 5/8/16, 6:56 AM
Eric the Fruit Bat said...: I don't know enough about church culture to know who he's supposed to be. I used to think that "The Church Lady" was some kind of common scold but now I see that she's supposed to have some sort of legitimate authority as evidenced by the stained glass and the fancy chair and table and her directness to the camera.

I laughed a lot while watching Monty Python, back when I was in high school. It wouldn't be until later that I learned that so many of the characters they portrayed were parodies of people or stereotypes who would have been very familiar to the average Brit. Sports announcers. David Attenborough. News readers. Country bumpkins. Housewives.

Getting back to The Church Lady, I guess the idea is she says things we only wish we could say. But it doesn't work for me because I don't see myself in her and I don't want to be like her.

There was some magical mirror in Harry Potter where the goal was to look into it and see only yourself, instead of what you wanted to see. Conversely, there was a vignette in Mad Men where they're doing LSD and the experienced facilitator/shepherd guy (who's not doing acid) instructs Don not to look at himself in the mirror. Tommy smashed the mirror and his mind escaped from the psychological prison of his childhood trauma and then expressed itself in the real world.

I had a dream last night. In it appeared my best friend, my dog who I put to death five months and twenty-two days ago. In the dream, my dog was alive but she just sat there looking at me and then she faded away to nothing. The death imagery could not have been more obvious. I woke up crying.

Today, my wife and I will be collecting the puppy waiting for us on reserve at the breeder. And I am frightened because I may live long enough that I have to make that same decision, yet again. And I am frightened.; 5/8/16, 7:10 AM
Hammond X. Gritzkofe said...: Killed it after 20 seconds; annoying laugh track.; 5/8/16, 7:37 AM
robother said...: Apparently, the SNL live audience is channeling Hillary's forced cackle. Some things, like humor and toilet paper, should never be recycled.; 5/8/16, 7:55 AM
Gahrie said...: It was a sad day when SNL became part of the Coastal elites......; 5/8/16, 7:59 AM
Carol said...: Church Lady would really be funny if he parodied just how lame and insipid churches are now. More like Stuart Smalley with Bible.

But the audience probably wouldn't get it, still being in rebellion mode against some imagined 1950s version of church.; 5/8/16, 8:30 AM
Captain Drano said...: Cute that 2 Corinthians is brought up again.
There are 2 Bibles in the taco salad photo, and pics of wife one and two-- as we all know, Marla on the magazine, then Ivana (w/Trump) in the framed pic on the right side of the photo.; 5/8/16, 8:45 AM
Phil 314 said...: It was weak and Dana's heart didn't seem to be in it.

Church Lady was always a stretch because she was an amalgam of all those Christian/Catholic/Church stereotypes. All made worse because the audience had limited experience of what was supposedly being satirized.

Note the skit didn't include Kasich though he has a very strong faith. No stereotypes to capitalize on.; 5/8/16, 8:46 AM
sane_voter said...: I have missed seeing Dana Carvey perform, but this didn't do much for me.; 5/8/16, 9:18 AM
robother said...: "SNL is pro Trump. It's over." Tradguy nails it.

Hillary and her MSM supporters are auditioning for the Church Lady role, clutching pearls at Trump's blunt language. But Trump's casual relationship with the Bible ("2 Corinthians") and his serial model monogamy resonates with the SNL audience and writers, so the skit defaults to punching the more conventional conservative target, Ted Cruz.; 5/8/16, 9:39 AM
Laslo Spatula said...: Daddy Issue America":

"Mom?"

"Yes, Amanda?'

"Dad found God."

"Don't worry, baby: he'll screw that up, too -- you'll see."

"But he and his twenty-two-year-old girlfriend made me to go to church with them."

"What kind of church was it, sweetheart?"

"I'm not sure what kind it was. A lot of talk about Jesus, I guess: that kind."

"Well, I don't think Jesus would approve of a man who left his family for a girl half his age."

"Oh, he says Jesus has already forgiven him about that."

"That sounds like your Father."

"And he told me that when at church next Sunday that I shouldn't wear such tight and revealing clothes."

"Honey, you wear whatever is comfortable to you."

"Thanks, mom. Besides, I don't think I have any clothes that aren't tight or revealing."

"You're young and beautiful, baby: there's nothing wrong with giving the world some candy."

"Yeah. For churchgoers a lot of those men sure couldn't stop staring at my tits."

"Well, I'm sure they believe Jesus will forgive them."

"That's funny, mom."

"Baby, God gave you those tits for a reason. You don't need to hide your headlights under a bushel."

"What's a 'bushel', mom?"

"It's some Biblical thing, I think."

"Maybe I'll ask about that on Sunday..."

I am Laslo.; 5/8/16, 9:46 AM
Chuck said...: As odious as Trump is, he has all along been less threatening to the Left, which regards him as a loser.

Cruz was always seen as more dangerous. Far, far more objectively conservative than Trump. A more serious debater. And unbendingly, infinitely more conservative on social issues than Trump. Remember Robert Reich's podcast on how Cruz was The One to Fear Most? And of course Cruz tapped into some legitimate evangelical Christian fervor, unlike Trump's celebrity tour through Lynchburg and Liberty University.; 5/8/16, 10:18 AM
Darrell said...: Cruz looked spiffy at the Kentucky Derby yesterday, with his lime green tie and wrinkled dirty suit. And his secret to winning debates was to talk so slow that his opponents fell asleep. But Cruzers are losers whichever way you cut it. Right, Chuck?; 5/8/16, 11:05 AM
Gahrie said...: Cruz was always seen as more dangerous. Far, far more objectively conservative than Trump. A more serious debater. And unbendingly, infinitely more conservative on social issues than Trump. Remember Robert Reich's podcast on how Cruz was The One to Fear Most? And of course Cruz tapped into some legitimate evangelical Christian fervor, unlike Trump's celebrity tour through Lynchburg and Liberty University.

The problem is, your bosses in the GOP Establishment hate Cruz worse than they do Trump, so we all get stuck with Trump.; 5/8/16, 11:23 AM
Chuck said...: Gahrie-

I really hate to agree with you on anything, but yes; I think that the bad blood between Cruz and the GOP in Washington hurt Cruz badly in this campaign. Maybe Cruz will learn something by it. Or maybe Cruz will become the heir to Trumpland after Trump's schlonging in November.

Cruz might indeed have done a lot better, if he hadn't burned so many Washington relationships over the last two years.

And you don't need to do much to sell me on the notion that the Republican Party reacted late, to the threat posed by Trump. Too late.; 5/8/16, 11:35 AM
Achilles said...: There was potential there. But first without adding a Hillary stand-in the skit just can't do it. But we know why SNL wont make fun of Hillary.

Second most politicians can be mocked this way but it doesn't work with Trump because Trump would have done a better job in the skit as himself. Yes we know what Trump is and how he acts. One of the reasons I support him is he could be in this skit and make it better than it was without him.; 5/8/16, 5:22 PM
Gahrie said...: I think that the bad blood between Cruz and the GOP in Washington hurt Cruz badly in this campaign.

I believe it has hurt the Republican Party and the Republican Establishment also.

Maybe Cruz will learn something by it

Maybe the Establishment will also.

Cruz might indeed have done a lot better, if he hadn't burned so many Washington relationships over the last two years.

Then he would have been either Rubio or Ryan, both of which are unacceptable to the base. The reason Cruz was acceptable was because he pissed off the establishment types.; 5/8/16, 6:49 PM
Known Unknown said...: Jesus. This is hot garbage on stilts; 5/8/16, 9:00 PM
MadisonMan said...: Church Lady doesn't age.; 5/8/16, 9:05 PM
Drago said...: Chuck: "And you don't need to do much to sell me on the notion that the Republican Party reacted late, to the threat posed by Trump. Too late."

Hilarious coming from a guy who refuses, even now, to react to the threat posed by Hillary.; 5/9/16, 6:17 AM
JAORE said...: Wow that was unfunny.

Politics aside, poorly pace, recycled to the extreme (even after the long break from the Church Lady), low energy.....

The guy that played Trump was realistic enough, but.... wow.; 5/9/16, 10:21 AM