Although I am sure we are all wishing the Japanese the best in their fight to prevent a meltdown in their nuclear reactors, it has made me recall events from my childhood, namely, Three Mile Island. And my taste for subversive humor goes straight to the Saturday night live sketch, "The Pepsi Syndrome" in which Jimmy Carter (who was a nuclear engineer before becoming president) attempts to save the day when an accident happens at a nuclear plant he is visiting.
Looking at the dates is interesting. The Three Mile Island accident started on March 28th, 1979 and this episode aired on April 8th. They sure didn't wait long!
I remember watching this skit even though I was pretty young. I loved Barabara Wawa. She delivered the classic monologue:
"Hewwo, this is Baba Wawa speaking to you wive fwom Two Miwe Iwand. I'm speaking to you wive fwom the Two Miwe Iwand Nucweaw Weactow site whewe wumows awe wunning wampant that the pwesident has been exthposed to wethaw wevews of wadiation. And he has gwown to an incwedibly widiculous pwopowtion. He's weawwy, weawwy, wawge. Pwesentwy, Woss Denton, spokespewson fow the utiwity company which wuns the nucweaw weactow wiww enter this woom to wespond to the pwess. Watew tonight, at 10:30, 9:30 centwaw, ABC wiww pwesent a speciaw half houw wepowt, "How big is the President?" hosted by Fwank Weynolds and Wodney Dangewfiewd. [ Ross enters the room with Rosalyn Carter and Dr. Edna Casey ] I see Woss Denton is appwoaching the podium and seems weady to speak. Wet's wisten in."
Unfortunately, I can't find a video of this classic online (you can buy the episode from Amazon). However, I found the complete transcript you can read.
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6 comments:
Thanks Boppster, too funny, Baba Wawa she took a beating for years with her “verbage”....SNL really hammer on her one night......
Believe it or not, I remember the skit. It was hilarious. Gilda Radner was definitely a gifted comedian taken away from us much too early.
I think watching this sketch is where I learned to interpret what it means when someone says "No comment".
I don't recall the episode. The early years of SNL were fantastic, though.
I remember it, too. There were very few SNL episodes I missed early on. For awhile, I quit watching. It seemed too silly. Either the quality went down, or I was just too busy with small kids. They are producing some very good stuff again. My only problem is staying awake through the whole show.
Classic comedy. I agree KK early years of SNL were great, then a middle period of not so great, now the recent years back to being entertaining. I loved when they did the world news cast. " Jane.. you ignorent slut" Back then it was really pushing the limit. They always seemed to have the "hot" bands on for the time
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