Summing up the New in Five Minutes: SNL

Before enrolling in media studies, I read the LA Times online every day. However, I wasn’t exactly catching up on breaking news and following international policies. No, I was giving the front page a two second glance over before clicking over to the Entertainment section. I would then proceed to thoroughly read the Television and Movies sections. I spent a lot of time on The NY Times website in the midst of research papers, but for the most part, I wasn’t keeping myself informed. At home, I always read The Oregonian over breakfast because there was a tangible paper there amongst the grapefruit juice and toast. My parents never watched the news because they preferred reading the newspaper, so I’ve never been in the habit of watching the news on TV. Once I came to Andover, it became a lot harder for me to read the paper when there was no longer a newspaper sitting at my breakfast table.

But, since this class, I go to The NY Times website everyday. I try to read two-three articles in depth, and skim over others. I still read The LA Times, but now, I read the front page before going to the Entertainment section. Now, it’s hard to imagine not reading the news.

I started thinking about all of this last week when I watched the May 8^th, 2010 episode of “Saturday Night Live.” Betty White hosted, and she was hysterical. I don’t tend to watch full SNL episodes, but I’ll usually end up seeing viral videos from SNL
that other blogs and websites highlight. However, I thought Betty White was great in The Proposal last summer, and I thought it was really cool that Betty scored the SNL hosting gig from a Facebook campaign. Moreover, she made history by being the oldest person to ever host SNL.

Betty White

While Betty nailed her hosting duties, the most interesting segment for me didn’t feature Betty. Midway through the episode came Seth Meyers' “Weekend Update.” For five minutes, Seth Meyers ripped on the headlines in the news with Amy Phoeler and Tina Fey. He deftly mixed in more serious news with some ridiculous news bits.

Seth Meyers

His topics? The riots in Greece, the terrorist attack in Times Square, the dome put over the oil leak, and the Dow. He also threw in funny notices such as the fact that White Castle (a food joint) would be selling scented candles that smelled like - what else? - White Castle.

Tina Fey, Amy Poehler, and Seth Meyers

Seth Meyers on the Dow dropping suddenly:

“On Thursday the Dow fell 1,000 points because someone entered a billion instead of a million. How is that possible? How is there not a backup system? When I delete a picture on Facebook, it asks me if I’m sure. Why is Facebook more squared away than the Dow?”

On the Greek riots:

“Really, Greece, you have to get it together. You’re in crippling debt, and you don’t want to make spending cuts, really? Where do you think your money’s gonna come from? Royalties for inventing civilization?”

Meyers delivered each zinger with perfect comic timing, always knowing when to hold a beat and when to continue on to the next line. It was fascinating seeing all of the major headlines from the week summed up into a five-minute sketch. Anyone watching would walk away with the basic threads of everything big that happened in the news that week. When I watched it, I had already read lengthy NY Times articles on all of the serious topics he touched on, but if I hadn't, I would have become informed after hearing him. Last month, I blogged about Chelsea Lately. Her opening monologue takes a similar format to Seth Meyer, but she rips on celebrity headlines as opposed to serious news headlines. It’s interesting seeing the same technique be applied to news. Obviously, Stephen Colbert and Jon Stewart have been doing this for a while, I just don’t watch their shows regularly.

In this day and age, everything you need to know in order to get your way through a party can be accomplished through a five minute video.

The SNL video embedded below: