Sarah Palin's October 18, 2008 guest appearance on ‘‘Saturday Night Live" was a huge hit. Saturday Night Live (SNL) is a weekly late-night 90-minute American sketch comedy/variety show based in New York City, which features a regular cast of typically up-and-coming comic actors, joined by a guest host and musical act.
This video was all over the news after it's broadcast and I felt like it tells us a lot about the role of media in politics, especially in the 2008 American Elections.
Enjoy :)
I found this video extremely entertaining and a good example of verbal and non-verbal communication used to express humour. This video was aired on the American sketch comedy television series, MADtv on 24 November 2007. Firstly, I found it ingenious, with the fusion of the concept of Rihanna's Umbrella video and the incorporation of both the Democratic Presidential candidates. Secondly, it is insanely hilarious (if you haven't seen it yet, what are you waiting for? *winks*) Not only are their impersonations almost perfect and spot-on, the lyrics of the song is insane, risqué and drenched with wit and perfect comic timing. Additionally, the excessive use of sexual innuendos is extremely entertaining. Don't we all enjoy a bit of bawdy humour once in a while?
The writers of the song must have spent a lot of time trying to fit the right words into Rihanna's Umbrella, and I suppose the actors also had to put a lot of emphasis on their non-verbal cues, such as oculesics (the 'Barack' in the video has an extremely cheeky glint in his eyes), haptics (I don't think I need to explain this aspect right? *winks*), proxemics (with their 'extremely' close proximity in the video, it is hard to take them seriously!) and lastly, their physical appearance. The actors look somewhat similar to their real counterparts, kudos to the use of costumes, make-up, expressions and voice-impersonation.
My favourite aspect of this video is the pun used in the song's title: Under Barack Obama. It could be referring to being under him, as a President and being led by his administration, and also literally being 'under him'.
Enjoy :)
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