When SNL used to have balls . . . . .

[no_hypocrisy]

(W)hen Henry Kissinger personally called the SNL offices to request tickets to the show, Al (Franken) happened to pick up the phone, and curtly informed the ex-Secretary of State that his request would not be honored. When Kissinger -- indignant at the slight -- asked why he couldn't score the tickets, Al calmly replied: "Because of the bombing of Cambodia."

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/john-eskow/from-stand-up-comic-to-st_b_312047.html

[Heeeeers Johnny]

1. Buck henry as Uncle Roy

No fucking way could they get away with that today; I'm surprised they got away with it back then.

https://screen.yahoo.com/buck-henry-snl-skits/

[Enthusiast]

4. That was back when we were a free country.

[valerief]

5. Pre-Reagan. nt

[Snarkoleptic]

2. I've a feeling Comcast wouldn't allow this today...

The 1998 Robert Smigel animated short film "Conspiracy Theory Rock", part of a March 1998 "TV Funhouse" segment, has been removed from all subsequent airings of the Saturday Night Live episode where it originally appeared. Michaels claimed the edit was done because it "wasn't funny". The film is a scathing critique of corporate media ownership, including NBC's ownership by General Electric/Westinghouse.

[Hydra]

3. A good sum up of the megacorp incestous upper realm

And LONG before it was popular to talk about. I remember the up and coming tech people claiming they had "won" the war against the elite at the time. Oops...

[Jack Rabbit]

8. I'm a hard sell on conspiracy theories

The idea that "the CIA" killed President Kennedy is ludicrous. While the number of employees who are retained by the CIA is not disclosed, any casual observer may easily conclude that there are far too many people working for the CIA to involve all of them in a dark conspiracy to assassinate the President and keep a lid on it for 50 years. That a small cabal within the CIA might have conspired to assassinate the President is another idea and much more plausible. When I say small, I mean a dozen or so, fifteen or twenty at the most.

The easiest way to go out and assassinate a national leader is to just do it. Don't ask anybody for help; you would just run the risk of discovery. To this day, I have not heard a conspiracy theory about the Kennedy assassination that beats a theory that says the President was assassinated by a lone gunman and, moreover, that the identity of the gunman is Lee Harvey Oswald.

What is relevant to this discussion here is that we do see activities nowadays that can be ascribed to a conspiracy more credibly, and even a lifelong conspiracy skeptic (me, age 64) will say so. The phenomenon in the intervening time between the Kennedy assassination and now that makes criminal conspiracies more plausible is the concentration of power in fewer and more homogeneous hands.

Fifteen big banks could conspire to fix LIBOR. This is perfectly credible, and what is incredible is to think this could have been done outside of a conspiracy. There is nothing natural about the way this worked. The invisible hand was tied by the consprirators.

Six corporations own 90% of American media. It is not implausible that they have laid down a set of rules that govern what we Americans, living in a putative democracy, see, hear and read. It goes a long ways in explaining why Americans are more likely to know about Paris Hilton's driving record than the roots of income inequality.

[Hydra]

15. "Conspiracy" is just a quiet plan between 2 or more people to something not approved of by someone

The idea that where we are today did not come about as of a such a plan that succeeded is laughable. Then again, this is the natural course of capitalism when it is allowed to do so- bigger fish swallow smaller fish until there are a smaller and smaller number of large players. They protect their interests, which requires them to control information flow.

It's all very scientific. I just think it's funny that most of the people in America thought this would somehow benefit them.

[valerief]

6. Thanks. Great clip. nt

[jtuck004]

7. ...and vaginas. n/t

[Plucketeer]

9. I love the smell of truth in the morning nt

[Fritz Walter]

10. Haven't watched SNL for years

I'm done with Bombast/eXfinity.
I'm done with NBC/Universal Stupidos.

Fuck'em!
Fuck'em all!

[smirkymonkey]

11. I love Al!

Both as a comedian and a Senator.

[smirkymonkey]

12. Great article on Al by the way.

Thanks!

[paul ofnoclique]

13. SNL used to be funny, too

Now it's just Weekend Update, and sometimes not even that.

[ananda]

14. The only answer is to boycott this stuff.

..

[mountain grammy]

16. As I've said before, here in the mountain time zone

we have The Red Green Show from Canada on PBS against SNL. It's clever and funny and good Saturday night entertainment.