Franken helps craft McCain 'SNL' skit

[a kennedy]

(sorry if this has been posted before)

by Jeffrey Ressner, Jonathan Martin, Josh Kraushaar

Al Franken, the former "Saturday Night Live" star now running in a high-profile Senate race in Minnesota, helped craft the opening sketch mocking John McCain that is slated to kick off the NBC comedy show tonight, according to two well-placed sources inside the network.

Franken, who hasn’t been a staff writer on the show for 13 years, “phoned in” a spoof of McCain recording campaign ads in an edit booth, said an NBC source. Seth Meyers, the show’s current head writer, wrote it, but the sketch was hatched by Franken, a longtime liberal satirist and comedian.

An SNL insider said that, as of the Wednesday script read-through, Franken was the “credited writer with Meyers” on the opening sketch. Show veteran Darrell Hammond is to play McCain.

Franken’s input to the show blindsided his campaign staff, who have been forced to explain away some of the more crass and profane parts of his past writing and acting that have been used as fodder against him in a state known for its polite manners.

A spokeswoman for Franken, Colleen Murray, first said the Democratic Senate candidate “didn’t write anything for SNL tonight.” But pressed if he was involved in the show or had been in contact with staff members, Murray admitted Franken had a role in tonight’s program.

full article here: http://news.yahoo.com/s/politico/20080921/pl_politico/13684;_ylt=AuALLzwrNaPg.ILKsWBPh.SyFz4D

[begin_within]

1. I wish they had said last week:

When Tina Fey said, "And I can see Russia from my house!" Amy Poehler should have said, "By the way, Sarah, what's the nearest foreign country to Alaska?" After a pause, Tina should have said, "In what respect, Hillary?"

[undeterred]

2. I can't wait till Franken starts bringing out his comedy on the Senate floor.

You know he won't be able to stop.

[question everything]

3. And what a great skit it was

Hammond get McCain perfectly and those "ideas" probably will find their way to the McCain campaign - unless someone will catch their absurdity.