'SNL' audience feels the Bern

[Playinghardball]

https://t.co/X9iRZE0lm2

CNN)It happened at about two minutes into a sketch about the Titanic. Bernie Sanders and Larry David finally shared the stage on "Saturday Night Live." And the audience exploded!

Having worked at "SNL" for eight seasons from the late 1990s to mid-2000s, I can tell you that the cheers Sanders received were off the charts, even compared to special appearances by A-list celebrities. Bernie Sanders has morphed from a political figure into a mixture of pop culture icon and folk hero.

What was interesting/painful about Saturday's "SNL" was that the show's producers made us wait to see Bernie. Everyone knew he would be there. Most, including myself, expected to see him in the cold open, likely yelling out in his Brooklyn accent the iconic words, "Live from New York it's Saturday night!"

[LiberalElite]

1. I thought the skits

were so badly done I wondered whose side the SNL writers were on. Just my humble opinion. If most people think it was a good effort, fine.

[SamKnause]

3. I didn't care for the shmuck and prick bit.

I liked all the sketches.

Have you seen Curb Your Enthusiasm ???

I don't think it would be funny to anyone who hasn't.

[LiberalElite]

4. I haven't seen it so maybe something was lost in "translation."

I thought that schmuck n prick bit was only about (what's that guy's name?) not Bernie. If it was about Bernie then that's even worse.

[mucifer]

5. I really don't think the scene would make any sense if you have never see Curb.

I'm a fan of the show. I thought the sketch was hilarious and clever.

The shmuck and prick thing was Larry David's schtick. It's Jewish self deprecating humor. I could see how it turns people off.

[LiberalElite]

6. ok. Tks. Maybe I should look up

this guy on YouTube.

[mucifer]

8. His show is a lot like Seinfeld but even more cringy.

He created the tv show Seinfeld along with Jerry Seinfeld. He's always having things happen which are a mixture of misunderstandings and him being an ahole. Then at the end of the episode they pull back some plot points from earlier on that you forgot about and you cringe even more.

BTW they worked all of the main characters in the show into the Bernie Sanders sketch.

[LiberalElite]

11. Oh. boy. No wonder i didn't

like it. I haven't seen Curb your Enthusiasm - and as for Seinfeld, it's possible I have only watched the Soup Nazi episode.

[SamKnause]

7. I don't know if it was about Bernie or not.

I just didn't find it funny.

Larry Davis is hilarious in Curb Your Enthusiasm.

He blurts out the most inappropriate things that gets him

into all kinds of trouble.

He also has weird quirks that morph into embarrassing situations.

It's a funny show.

[LiberalElite]

9. Like in that other skit, something about a

frog mentioned in a song? I did chuckle a little at that. I'll look him up online. Maybe he's an acquired taste.

[Atman]

19. The frog had nothing to do with it.

The frog had nothing to do with anything. That was the entire point, and part of why Larry David is a brilliant writer. Non sequiturs are a big part of his shtick. The bit was about a bunch of artists not conforming to the "lesson" they were being taught about how to write a song...like so many great songs we love, they come from nowhere, they come from the heart, and they touch other people. Maybe I read too much into it.

It certainly wasn't "deep," but it resonated: "Here is the way you do it." Then, some free thinker does it differently and people open their eyes.

[Atman]

18. As a Bernie AND Larry fan, I thought it was one of the best SNL's ever.

I totally understood Larry's opening. I never thought it had anything to do with Bernie. It was totally Larry David.

I have watched nearly every episode of Curb Your Enthusiasm, and the Bern Your Enthusiasm bit was spot-on and hilarious. But you can't go do research and watch one episode to understand why the sketch was so perfect. Many aspects of several seasons were on display in the sketch. It's kind of like watching only "The Phantom Menace" and then saying "I don't get Star Wars." The bit may have been too clever for its own good.

Beyond the Bernie bits, Larry David was at his best. Several great costumes and personas. I really haven't laughed so hard at SNL in a very long time.

[SamKnause]

10. Do you watch Seinfeld ???

The character George was based on Larry David.

In real life he quit a job on Friday.

Changed his mind over the weekend.

Showed up to work on Monday and tried to

convince everyone he was just kidding.

I think they actually took him back, but I can't remember.

Larry David and Jerry Seinfeld wrote the Seinfeld sitcom.

[LiberalElite]

12. I think I've only seen

the Soup Nazi episode, believe it or not. I'm learning that it's no wonder I didn't get the point of anything last night.

[SamKnause]

13. That made me chuckle out loud.

It's not a bad thing.

I am a TV addict.

I am also a hermit, so that explains a lot.

I'm still chuckling.

[LiberalElite]

15. I have strong hermit

tendencies too - but I'm on the computer (DU) instead. I don't know why I have a TV now.

Years ago, I used to watch the "normal" amount of TV like everyone else. Then I went to night school for a lot of years and I never got back into the habit. I only saw Everybody Loves Raymond in re-runs after it had been off the air for several years. I'll watch SpongeBob once in a while. And to think, when I was a kid if the TV went on the blink it was the absolute END OF THE WORLD! like running out of oxygen!

A friend used to tell me, watch more TV. It'll relax you. Not if I don't want to watch it!

[SamKnause]

16. My TV is on 24/7.

I am on the computer all day and night.

I just mute the TV if there is a video on the computer I want to watch.

I couldn't get my local channels for about 5 years because of my rural location.

I had a lot of catching up to do.

[LiberalElite]

17. You and my old friend would have had

a lot in common (She died a few years ago.) She had the TV or a radio on at all times. Three TVs, one in the living room, the bedroom and the kitchen. She went to sleep with the TV on. Every night.

Either the TV or the radio were on at all times, because she hated silence. When I visited her (she had moved to another state) I had some adjustment to do. I thought it was sad she didn't like silence because - I LOOOOOOVE it.

[SamKnause]

2. CAN YOU FEEL IT ???????

FEEL THE BERN

[Rosa Luxemburg]

14. SNL

The Titanic sketch was OK but I didn't like the other one.

[TTUBatfan2008]

20. The election one was amusing...BUT...

...and it's a big BUT. It sure as hell seems that there was some election rigging on the part of the Clinton Machine. Not a very funny thing to joke about.