Tag: Saturday Night Live

9/11 plus 25

Day of Remembrance

It’s 9/11 plus 25 years, and my thoughts are all over the place. I recently received an email for a Day of Remembrance blood drive from the American Red Cross. “We invite you to honor the heroes and victims we lost with a simple act of kindness, a blood donation. Our community is strongest when we come together to support one another. The patients who receive your blood may never know your name, but they will always cherish your generosity.”

I’m always in favor of blood drives. Back in 2001, I had a donation scheduled for a couple of days after the awful event. The ARC called me NOT to donate because so many people were already doing something, such as donating blood, ostensibly to give to the survivors. Except that there were relatively few of them in NYC after the buildings collapsed; for instance, about 20 were pulled from the Twin Towers rubble. The Red Cross knew that I was a “regular” and that I would come back.

Forgetting?

2008: I wrote, Even three or four years after September 11, 2001, there was this public conversation that people were “forgetting” 9/11. Or more precisely, had “forgotten the lessons of 9/11.” 

If you watched the second plane hit the World Trade Center, you didn’t forget 9/11. Seeing the two towers practically evaporate, you didn’t forget. Nearly three thousand sad stories, and actually, exponentially many more. The anniversary memories I am hearing now are poignant; one I heard recently involved a then two-year-old who doesn’t remember her mother except for a recording, for her mom was a first responder who was killed trying to save others.   

My family and I went to the 9/11 Memorial in November 2013. “In honor of the 25th anniversary, 9/11 Memorial & Museum Chairman Mike Bloomberg will match every gift to The Never Forget Fund.” 

As horrifically sad as the day was, there was a sense of community, collective grief, and, dare I say, camaraderie. People suddenly didn’t hate the elite New York City folks. Everything You NEED to Know About SNL Season 27 (2001-02) shows how the Saturday Night Live writers and actors pivoted in their approach to comedy.

My wife and I finally got to see Come From Away in 2025, and it is very much in the 9/12 spirit.

Forgotten?

But what were the “forgotten” lessons of 9/11? Newsweek has been running a series, The Road to 9/11, which requires a subscription. Here’s the intro – August 7, 2001: “The Defense Intelligence Agency (DIA) published a secret report on ‘Iraq‘s Reemerging Nuclear Weapon Program,’ part of a raging debate within U.S. intelligence community agencies as to the state of Saddam Hussein’s weapons of mass destruction program. United Nations inspectors had been banned from inside the country since November 1998, leaving U.S. intelligence to largely speculate as to what was going on.” 

September 1, 2001: In Afghanistan, the Northern Alliance detected a build-up of Taliban forces on September 1, evidently in preparation for an upcoming offensive. The intelligence portended something much larger, but at the time, the CIA failed to see the gathering pieces.

Iraq?

 2011:  I crashed Albany Pro Musica to sing the Mozart Requiem on a very windy 11 September 2002; that was the only day ever that I wore a tuxedo to work. Exactly two weeks later, I began my weekly vigil, with a number of people who had been there weeks and months before, in my opposition to the war in Iraq. What the heck did Iraq have to do with 9/11? Took a bit of grief over that. And it would have been one thing if it were only “regular people” who jumped all over France for failing to support the curiously illogical war in Iraq; it was the US Congress that opted for the jingoistic ‘freedom fries’. How embarrassing.

Indeed, we are still learning from the event. Just this week, from the NYT: After 9/11, Documents Suggest New Yorkers Were Misled About Air Quality. New York City officials are making public more than 170,000 pages of documents related to the air quality around the World Trade Center site in the months after the Sept. 11 attacks.

What lesson?

So if the “lesson” was that we should adopt the so-called USA PATRIOT ACT, or that a new and unwieldy Department of Homeland Security is necessary, or that Islamophobia is acceptable, then I feel we totally missed the point. 

From journalist and former Carter White House speechwriter James Fallows, thoughts on the legacy of 9/11, 25 years after the terrorist attacks: 9/11 changed the U.S.; can we change back?

But if we’ve decided that we can – to quote the cliché – disagree without being disagreeable, and look out for each other, that’s the lesson I can get behind.

June rambling: Pride Now

Amy Grant?

All Americans Need Pride Now

In 1776, Angry New Yorkers Tore Down a Statue of George III With a Revolutionary Fervor. A New Exhibition Lets You Do It, Too

James Madison Speech in the House of Representatives, 8 June 1789, promoting amendments to the Constitution

The Interview: Scott Pelley on the Bari Weiss Era and His Last Days at ’60 Minutes.’ Lesley Stahl, Bill Whitaker and Jon Wertheim are staying.

DOD Officially Drops 180 Faiths From Military’s Recognized Religion List

Higher Education Must Not Become a Research Arm of Militarized Power

‘It debases the democratic process’: Sotomayor slams Supreme Court’s Alabama ruling, and it marks brazen reversal of its previous stance

A Shocking Betrayal of Black Americans

Only 50% of the public said they now trust health recommendations from the CDC, down from 77% in spring 2025, according to a poll conducted by the Harvard School of Public Health and the de Beaumont Foundation’s Public Health Listening Lab

US Turnaround on International Vaccines Comes Too Late for Hundreds of Thousands. The State Department finally overruled RFK Jr.’s defunding of a group that vaccinates 60 percent of children globally.

The DOJ came after Daily Kos. Here’s the full story.

EFF Has Just Testified Before Congress on AI

Claustrophobia

Naomi Kritzer’s Obstetrix is a new, tense thriller in the mode of Atwood’s Handmaid’s Tale and Alderman’s The Power; it’s a beautifully turned, claustrophobic horror novel about an obstetrician who’s been kidnapped by a Christian cult obsessed with fertility.

Researching Juneteenth Celebrations at The New York Public Library

Knicks celebrate NBA victory back in New York City. The team was 4-0 in the finals when he wasn’t there. I still think of that 1973 championship team.  

New College of Florida and UK & Makerfield Election: Last Week Tonight with John Oliver

Fact-checking the interview with NBC News’ ‘Meet the Press’  – Digging into some of his claims about the Iran war, the Jan. 6 riots, California’s primary elections and more.

FOTUS Moved to Eliminate Chemical Safety Board Before Deadly Spill Killed 11

The Art of the Deal — The Art of BS

Everything You NEED To Know About Saturday Night Live, Season 26 (2000-2001)

The Desert’s Night Lights and The Boy and the Blue Cup and How to Steal a House? and A Planely Obvious Punishment 

MUSIC

As – Stevie Wonder

The 6th of January (Yasgur’s Farm) – Amy Grant

Fanfare for the Common Man – Emerson, Lake & Palmer

How Do We Get There from Here – Amy Grant featuring Ruby Amanfu.

Memphis Soul Stew – King Curtis

Life On Mars? – David Bowie

John Barleycorn Must Die – Traffic

Bad Time  – Grand Funk

Mr. Brightside – The Killers

Somebody To Love -Jefferson Airplane

I Knew It, I Knew You – Taylor Swift from Toy Story 5 

That’s The Way Of The World – Earth, Wind, and Fire

Favorite Songs By Favorite Artists (Series Four) #6: Yusef Lateef and #7: The Velvet Underground

Ally the Piper does NOT need your misogyny

J. Eric Smith’s Best Albums of 2026 (First Half)

Hymns by Carolyn Winfrey Gillette

The Dark Side of Paul McCartney

Former Senator Al Franken turns 70

liberal talk radio

Al FrankenAl Franken was a writer and featured performer on Saturday Night Live in 1977–1980, leaving when producer Lorne Michaels did. Michaels had recommended Franken to succeed him as the producer, but NBC president Fred Silverman said no, probably because of a Franken skit that insulted Fred personally.

Franken returned to SNL in 1986, then from 1988 to 1995.  It was during that period that he did a running bit called “Daily Affirmations With Stuart Smalley.” It was a mock self-help show inspired by Franken attending Alcoholics Anonymous meetings.

The skit series inspired a 1992 novel, titled after Smiley’s catchphrase, “I’m Good Enough, I’m Smart Enough, and Doggone It, People Like Me!” I’ll admit to relating to that mantra, even if I wasn’t quite sure it was true of me.

Air America Radio was a talk radio network, with a liberal POV, trying (and largely failing) to counterprogram the conservative message. The Al Franken Show was the flagship talk program from 2004 to Valentine’s Day 2007. That was the day Franken announced his candidacy for the United States Senate for the state of Minnesota.

The 2008 Senate race between Franken and Republican incumbent Norm Coleman was incredibly close, each with 41.99% of the vote. After recounts and court rulings, Franken wasn’t sworn in until July 7, 2009. The Minnesota senator had a progressive voting record and was reelected with 53.9% of the vote in 2014.

The allegations

Some sexual misconduct allegations were made against Franken in 2017. One famous photo from before he was in public office he apologized for, and the subject, a fellow comedian, accepted that. Nevertheless, the Senate Ethics Committee announced on November 30 it was “investigating allegations against him.” Some liberal groups and commentators… called on Franken to resign.”

As other accusations surfaced, “more than two dozen Democratic senators, led by New York Senator Kirsten Gillibrand, called on Franken to resign before the ethics committee could review the allegations.

“Although Franken had asked to be allowed to appear before the Senate Ethics Committee to give his side of the story, on December 6 Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer told him he had to announce his resignation by five o’clock or he could be censured and stripped of committee assignments. On December 7, Franken announced his intention to resign his Senate seat. He called some of the accusations ‘simply not true’ and said he remembered others ‘very differently.'”

I do wish he had gotten the hearing he was due, and not just for his sake. Many people believed that Gillibrand, who I’ve voted for multiple times and would select again, was working to get rid of a potential rival for the 2020 Democratic nomination for President.

I don’t buy the notion that she was that calculating. She’s long been a staunch advocate for ridding sexual harassment and assault in the military and might be getting some traction in 2021. Nevertheless, I was convinced early on that she had zero chance of obtaining her party’s support for a White House run in 2020.

Aftermath

In 2019, New Yorker journalist Jane Mayer documented substantial inaccuracies in allegations by conservative talk-radio host Leeann Tweeden. “Seven former or current senators who called for Franken’s resignation in 2017 told Mayer they regretted doing so.”

Here is the Al Franken website, which leads to his podcast (over 110 episodes) and “other stuff.” As he puts it: “A five-time Emmy-winning SNL comedy writer/producer, joins a four-time #1 NYT bestselling author, a three-time highest-rated national progressive radio host, a two-time Grammy-winning artist, and a former US Senator. So, it gets a little crowded in the booth when Al talks about public policy and sometimes political comedy with notable guests. Think ‘The Daily’ without the resources of the NYTimes.”

The October Surprise in 2020

“autocratic malarkey”

hydrochloroquineI woke up in the morning, and suddenly, it made sense, in a Bizarro world sort of way. Many pundits said there was no October surprise in 2020. I would disagree. The surprise was djt getting COVID.

He flies on Marine One to the hospital on a Friday. By Sunday, he’s riding around in a limo, waving to supporters. And on Monday evening, he’s back at the White House, defiantly ripping off his mask, saying “Screw you, COVID.” A week or so later, he’s off doing dozens of his rallies before tens of thousands of his adoring acolytes, including five events in four states in one day.

Now, you and I may see this as grossly irresponsible behavior, creating a bunch of possible super-spreader events. But to his fans, he is portraying Strength and Resilience.

It’s like in that old Saturday Night Live skit. He is the Arnold clones, Hans and Franz. He’s going to “Pump you up.” Meanwhile, the other guy, he says, is hiding in his basement like a “girly man.”

Never underestimate the appeal of toxic masculinity, especially mixed with half-truths. My gut says that the big blue wave didn’t come because those mysterious undecided voters leaned red. And possibly because his supporters lie to pollsters.

“The unhinged, dangerous, Democracy-destabilizing thing”

He gave a speech at the White House around 2:30 a.m. Wednesday in which he prematurely declared victory. This despite the fact that “millions upon millions of legitimate votes were still being counted. As Vanity Fair noted: “The goal, in all of its authoritarian bluster, was to get out in front of a result that might not land in his favor.”

Now, “the networks quickly and aggressively called bulls**t on Trump’s remarks, either breaking away from the speech or butting in with fact-checks. ‘We are reluctant to step in but duty-bound to point out when he says, ‘We did win this election, we’ve already won,’ that’s not based in the facts at all,’ said MSNBC’s Brian Williams.

His colleague Nicolle Wallace put it this way: ‘It’s straight-up autocratic malarkey, and what we have to keep in mind is that he’s not the boss of the counting…”

“CBS threw up a graphic stating, ‘CBS NEWS IS NOT PROJECTING A WINNER IN THE PRESIDENTIAL RACE,’ and Norah O’Donnell described Trump as ‘castrating the facts…’

“But perhaps the most noteworthy analysis was that seen on Trump’s frenemy network, Fox News… At a historic and uncharted moment like this, it was crucial to have a respected veteran newsman like anchor Chris Wallace telling the viewers what they needed to hear.

“‘This is an extremely flammable situation, and the president just threw a match on it,’ Wallace said. ‘He hasn’t won these states. Nobody is saying he’s won the states. The states haven’t said that he’s won.’

“The question is, did the viewers believe him?”

Where he leads, they will follow

Apparently not. Because the media, he keeps telling them, is fake. This despite the fact the shift in vote count was predictable.

“Dozens of [his] angry supporters… converged on vote-counting centers in Detroit and Phoenix as the returns went against him Wednesday in the two key states. The folks pounding on the Plexiglass in Detroit chanting “Stop the Count” made the NBC News on Wednesday. I feared for the wellbeing of the election workers inside.

Demonstrators, some armed, gathered at the government office in Maricopa County, AZ yelling, “Kill Fox,” and “Count the Vote.” Reportedly, the group became so threatening that the work of counting the vote had to be ended for the evening.

What does one want in a president? I found this four-minute video from John Green (no relation) about the decency of Joe Biden rather touching. And this 20-minute piece of John Oliver on the incompetence of the coronavirus response infuriating.

But djt apparently overcame the COVID. So he must be America Strong, even if he leaves it to his idiot son-in-law to “Let the Markets Decide America’s COVID-19 Fate.”

His fans appreciate his disdain for “political correctness.” He orchestrates his rallies as places to express their anger: “Fire Fauci,” “Lock Her Up.” Yet they’re OK with him lying to them about the seriousness of the pandemic, pushing conspiracy theories, dismissing climate change, pandering to racists, using the government for personal gain, and ruining our international reputation.

Yes, he suggests he’s for individual liberty, but it’s for those who agree with him. Lower taxes but really for the rich. Smaller government when it involves human services or the environment, but not the military. 

My rational brain says his fans are crazy. But I also have to admit I’m just not experiencing his persona the same way as they do. And it’s not just the one person but Trumpism I just don’t grok.

John Candy would have been 70

SCTV

Planes, Trains, and Automobiles is my favorite John Candy movie. It’s also my favorite John Hughes film.

James Kendrick described it as “a road comedy about two men trying desperately to get home for Thanksgiving and having every obstacle imaginable thrown in their way. The men are played, in a feat of pitch-perfect casting, by Steve Martin and John Candy as complete opposites who, at the beginning of the film, don’t know each other, but by the end have found that they have more in common than they thought.”

Candy himself was quoted about the script. “I just cried with laughter when I read it. It’s like it was written with me in mind, which makes a big difference. I could see just see the movie in my mind.”

Back in 1972, John was accepted in the Second City comedy troupe’s Chicago group. For two years, he worked with folks such as John Belushi and Gilda Radner. He then returned to Toronto in 1974, working with Second City’s Toronto group.

SCTV

John “helped bring the troupe’s skits and sketches to Canadian television in 1977 as SCTV. The series also featured Martin Short, Eugene Levy, and Harold Ramis. That’s where I first him. “John Candy’s Johnny LaRue, Josh Shmenge and Gil Fisher (“The Fishin’ Musician”) were about as different from each other and Candy himself as you could possibly get.”

He reportedly turned down offers to be in the SNL cast. Interesting, then that he ended up in ten movies with SNL alums.

Among the movies I saw, he appeared in The Blues Brothers, Stripes, National Lampoon’s Vacation, Splash, and Home Alone. One of his best performances was in a more serious role. “During his screen-time as Dean Andrews in JFK (1991), the nervous sweat seen on his face is real, as the thought of acting in a dramatic film opposite such heavyweight actors as Donald Sutherland and Gary Oldman made him very scared.” He was very good.

Another solid role was as the title character in Uncle Buck (1989). He said, “In the movie, Uncle Buck doesn’t talk down to these kids. And I think that’s why they like him. He treats them as an equal.”

A sad demise

I’ve learned that John Candy lost his father Sidney to a heart attack when John was only five years old. Sidney was 35; HIS father also died of a heart attack. “John was a heavy smoker for most of his adult life. He officially quit smoking cigarettes a few months before he passed away.” And the large man was sensitive about his weight and periodically tried to shed some pounds.

Still, he too died of a heart attack, on March 4, 1994 at the age of 43. He was in Durango, Mexico filming the western spoof Wagons East. According to fellow SCTV alum Catherine O’Hara, “just before going to Mexico, Candy talked to her on the phone and told her that he feared going to Mexico because he felt that ‘something bad is going to happen there.'”

Sadly, John Candy, who was born 31 October 1950 in Toronto, Ontario, was only 43 when he died. He was well-loved by his compatriots.

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