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10/06/2008
Kristen Wiig and her Petite, Ladylike Hands
Another moment of genius from Kristen Wiig as The Lawrence Welk Show returns to SNL.
Watch it, AFTER THE JUMP...
Posted 12:10 PM EST by Andy Towle in Kristen Wiig, News, SNL, Television | Permalink
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Oh, her hands? Oh...well, I told you I was drunk Saturday night. Her hands...duh. I thought it was her forehead.
Posted by: Derrick from Philly | Oct 6, 2008 3:34:27 PM
I'm with Aeres and Randy. I loved the Welk because I grew up with that show on every weekend. But Mark Wahlberg Talks to Animals. I peeed. Seriously.
I have hated SNL for so many years becuase I just couldn't see how they could be that unfunny and not know it. But now it's a laugh riot for the first time in a decade.
Couple things though.
Haters? Seriously? Have you watched South Park? Humour is very rarely comfortable and no one said anything about birth defects. She had plastic doll hands.
Also, during Weekend Update Amy and I think hottie we going back and forth about the world's biggest man (uhoh Haters! They are teasing fat people! Call Jenny!) and finally Amy wrote something on a piece of paper and gave it to hottie.... Anyone?
Posted by: Br!on | Oct 6, 2008 3:44:46 PM
I thought the "birth defects" were making fun of the ridiculously wholesome conformity of the Welk show rather than making fun of people with birth defects, but it's a matter of interpretation. It made me laugh, particularly the bubble chasing ending. I'm not a big SNL fan these days--aside from the brilliant Tina Fey Palin bits--but I admire how Kristen Wiig dares to go way way out there with her characters. She's a breath of originality on the show.
Posted by: Ernie | Oct 6, 2008 4:01:16 PM
This was the best sketch since Debbie Downer at Disneyworld! I was crying because I was laughing so hard. Brilliant! Kristen Wiig ranks right up there with Gilda, Jane, Amy and Tina... simply brilliant!
Posted by: Wayne | Oct 6, 2008 4:05:56 PM
Noah.. as usual, you are a complete ass!
Posted by: Mike | Oct 6, 2008 4:17:01 PM
"Nobody in the world has birth defects" - MIKE.
Direct quote. Probably.
Posted by: Eric | Oct 6, 2008 5:06:05 PM
I'm amazed that people react so aggressively when they are criticised for laughing at physical disability. If you really believe it was an acceptable sketch you can say so without attacking NOAH and others who found it offensive. In my book defenders of minorities always get the benefit of the doubt, even if they are disagreeing with me. If you think comedy has no limits, then say so and leave it at that.
People routinely use the words "retard" and "spaz" and seem to forget that they are referring to human beings. It is as upsetting as when kids use the word "gay" to mean bad or stupid. At least gays usually have outlets to defend themselves - developmentally and physically disabled individuals often depend on advocates to fight for their causes.
What could be perceived as offensive about this sketch was its portrayal of otherness as bizarre and wrong. The best sketches make "normal" people do/have strange things - like Mary Poppins having an STD! It's hardly ingenious to have a woman with deformities acting strange... having a "regular beauty" act weirdly would be funnier.
Posted by: sexyback | Oct 6, 2008 5:36:49 PM
No apologies from me for having a laugh at a fictional characature on SNL.
Posted by: marc | Oct 6, 2008 5:57:18 PM
Well, MARC, if it's "fictional" parody it must be ok.
Next week on SNL: Amy Poehler in blackface selling her body for crack cocaine while eating watermelon, Tina Fey wearing a Star of David on her Jewish horns while stealing money from the parents of the baby whose blood she is drinking... drunken, stupid Irish policemen beating their wives... a group of kids with cerebral palsy playing basketball in their spazzy wheelcharis... all of these fictitious scenarios would be so hilarious and would not offend you at all. Oh and let's do one about the gays spreading AIDS with a handshake and perving on children. That one's a real riot.
Posted by: redfaced | Oct 6, 2008 7:33:37 PM
They have done skits similar to the ones you mention REDFACED.
There is a difference in my world and a "line drawn" where one who has almost 1/2 a brain knows what is "real" and serious, to a skit.
I think you are lumping me in with the zombie masses that do not know the difference.
I will NEVER apologize for laughing, laughter is medicine, and like I said anyone with almost 1/2 a brain knows right and wrong.
What I laugh at in the privacy of my home is none of your business.
Posted by: marc | Oct 6, 2008 8:58:24 PM
...anyone remember the MadTV skit years ago where the white people wanted to adopt the black baby so bad? It had to be a crack-baby and BLACK as night.
That was a funny skit. SKIT only!
Posted by: marc | Oct 6, 2008 8:59:52 PM
let me echo what Sexyback said above: the fact that you guys got so extremely defensive after being criticized for insensitivity is in itself telling. it implies that you can't justify your behavior logically, so you have to resort to getting pissy. grow up.
i did think it was pretty tasteless and not in a comically acceptable way. the way to make that work (mocking immutable defining characteristics of a minority group) is to bring members of those groups in on the joke, to do it in an ironic or self-aware way. i haven't seen much south park, but i think they managed to walk that fine line fairly well--making the punchline of the joke be about how offensive (and unbelievable) the joke was, not about the offensive material itself.
on another point, though, even completely putting aside the issue of intolerance, i can't understand how people thought that was even mildly amusing, to say nothing of hilarious. dear god, you people are easily amused. Kristen Wiig is by far my favorite player on the show after Tina Fey, but i just could not detect what was funny about this. and i tried pretty hard, since i have heard many Lawrence Welk jokes, and assumed that anything Andy thought was funny enough to post, i would probably find funny too.
anyway, a really friend of mine has a congenital disorder that, it just so happens, made her hands and feet very small. she's overcome a ton of obstacles (like in the character portrayed by Wiig, my friend's hands also have very limited function), and is such a positive person that i think she might have laughed at the thought of that being part of such a skit... but i can't help but think how, if i were her, it might affect me to see that on tv on a rough day.
oh, and by the way, instead of getting all defensive and immediately telling me to "calm down" (i'm pretty calm), or "lighten up" (what a convenient way to dismiss someone's point without having to discuss it!), would you do me a favor and think about this for a good thirty seconds or so, *without* starting off with the underlying assumption that you are right?
thanks! :-)
Posted by: humanist | Oct 6, 2008 9:55:28 PM
Oh my sweet Jesus, are people really offended by this? Seriously? I just don't know how you can even bear to leave your house in the morning. If this little skit gets your panties in a bunch, then EVERYTHING outside your little bubble must make you go completely insane. It must be such a burden to be so in tune to everyone's feelings. Thank you for protecting me from all the offensive material in the world.
Posted by: Steven | Oct 6, 2008 10:41:59 PM
Well there's no denying the fact that the character's forehead was large, but maybe she was just holding on to baby doll hands because that was her "thing"? No need to assume it's a birth defect. Or something.
I'm surprised no one's losing their mind about the Jason Sudeikis skit where he pretends to be gay so he can stay in the apartment with Anne Hathaway's character. GASP HE FLOUNCED AROUND PRETENDING TO BE GAY CALL THE PC POLICE
Posted by: Harrison | Oct 6, 2008 11:19:57 PM
Gosh, you people get so hysterical when someone points out that you're laughing at something offensive. Yeah, everyone who thinks it's not very funny to laugh at disability only has a half a brain. What an ironic comment to make, MARC.
It is easy to make people laugh at ridiculous stereotypes. What takes true talent is making the comedy relevant, introspective, clever.
The Wiig character was entirely negative and weird. It would have been funny to make the normal sisters look like the rejects, to challenge people's ideas and prejudices and put the joke on us.
Disabled people are rejected every day, through no fault of their own. SNL does not need to join the chorus. When did you last see a disabled leading man/woman in a popular show? movie? novel? It's like hoping for a black character on Friends.
I refuse to laugh at derogatory humor when there is so much clever, original POSITIVE stuff out there. Bitchiness might be cool for some of you, but the rest of us appreciate a little class.
Posted by: alberon_skinnywinkle | Oct 6, 2008 11:48:05 PM
I think Noah, Eric and the rest of them are suffering from a little liberal guilt.
Lighten. Up.
Posted by: KevinIsTheNewShirley | Oct 6, 2008 11:50:55 PM
I get it!
Some of you are not SNL fans, oh well.
I am, and not apologizing. They have been making fun of everything and being rude for, what is it, 32 years now.
If you're not a fan, don't watch.
You won't catch me watching HOUSE, i'm not a fan.
Posted by: marc | Oct 7, 2008 12:40:40 AM