I have to completely disagree. I haven't laughed so much at a SNL skit in a long time. I had tears in my eyes.

SNL, OTHER than the Palin/Fey stuff, has gotten a little too boorish and sophomoric lately - I have felt like I was still in 8th grade watching some of the shows. But last night was hysterical.

So, I don't know where ya'll are coming from, but last night was fine and I hope they keep "playin'" this way.

They should have skipped Maya as Michelle and brought in Rachel Dratch as Ashley Todd.

Talk about your lost opportunities! (Hey, I tried. I sent SNL this suggestion but got back only a robo reply to the effect of, we don't take no stinkin' creative submissions.)

I thought the skit was pretty good. Yeah, Barack and Michelle didn't have any funny lines; that was a shame. But the previews featuring Dem politicians (especially Bill) and the Wright-Ayers duo were quite funny. The thing is, when real politicians get in front of the camera, they often have an aura of cheesy, second-rate "stardom" that is so noticeable in variety-show performers, so the joke's set-up rang true. Only Barney Frank has the timing and wit of a first-rate performer.

Someone should write a sketch for Michelle that captures the interesting thing going on just below the surface with her. As I see it, she is a smart, black professional who knows how to make her way in the white world and is far from being the anti-American radical the rightwing tries to make her, and yet really *is* exasperated and somewhat angry at American racism--but can't let it show.

Actually, I'm glad they aren't trying to get at that dynamic before the election--it's probably too risky to do satire about black anger until the votes are counted (see: New Yorker cover).

Sigh...his Barack is off. The worst part was that when he was tied up as Barack, he couldn't reprise his Barney Frank, which I thought was hysterical in the foreclosure skit with Anne Hathaway a few weeks ago.

Poor Maher, Stewart, Colbert, SNL, etc. Actually having a sane administration is going to cause a major downturn in the being funny industry. For eight years we've had jokes that wrote themselves, so comics grew fat and lazy on the easy pickings, and now it is going to be all gone. The only comics that survive will be nimble, clever, lithe, and hard working. I predict the imminent demise of SNL (stodgy, bloated, tired, lazy...).

How odd, that Wall Street was, albeit indirectly, able to drag Broadway down with it.

(Incidentally, isn't Maya Rudolph just about the hottest woman on the planet? I would watch a high school talent show if she was hosting it, just to keep ogling those freckles.)

Or, to make it a perfect parallel with SNL's earlier Todd Palin sketch, would they have had to suggest that Michelle Obama was the one who had had sex with their daughters? It's just so confusing to keep up with the left's double standards.

Maya Rudolph? really? as Michelle Obama? really?

here's a tip SNL.... there is MORE THAN ONE BLACK COMEDIC ACTRESS CAPABLE OF PLAYING MICHELLE OBAMA.

you already got a white guy playing Barack who really really sucks.

SNL was saucey semolina satire-parody comedy

Now damp egg noodles

Can't Ketchup

This SNL sketch is all-too familiar territory. They did a similar bit back in 1988 with a Hugh Hefner-ish spoof called "Dukakis After Dark," in which the Democratic nominee acknowledges he's going to get beat, and decides to throw a honkin' big party with the rest of the campaign swag.

Much funnier 'n farcical.

I always thought ms. rudolph was hispanic or a very tan white. Not to knock her, but she is about 100 shades lighter than Michelle Obama...honestly, she doesn't even look black. Michelle is darker skinned than Barack...and SNL got a white guy and a black woman who doesn't look black to play them? And fine...don't make it about race...you don't have to look like someone to imitate them. But what about rudolph's impersonation in any way resembles Michelle...where is the funny? If she hadn't announced that she was playing Michelle Obama...would anyone have even been able to guess?

I never understood Rudolph, she seems like a woman who has an incredible sense of self-confidence...but that confidence doesn't seem to translate into any kind of work that is actually competent. I am all for confident women, they are few and far between...but Rudolph's confidence seems misplaced. I never watched SNL very often, but I was always fascinated by Rudolph because of that sense of confidence she just exudes...so if I happened to catch SNL, I would wait for a skit with her just to check her out. And what I remembered was...SHE WAS NEVER FUNNY. It seems like her confidence is diametrically opposed to how funny she is.

I was pissed at Poehler and especially Fey about some of their comments about Obama and some of their skits early on when Hillary was still running...but if they were funny, I would never pretend that they weren't. Even if I was pissed at them, I could still give them credit for being funny women. But Rudolph...it's not just this Michelle Obama skit, the woman has NEVER been funny.

Amy Poehler is a spazoid on crack.

...because SNL is weak on female writers and even worse when it comes to African-American writers. They have no one on board who could do that subject justice.

True, she would have been better.

Amy Poehler has been horribly misused by SNL. She is one of the funniest women out there. You need to look no further than the three seasons of Upright Citizens Brigade for proof.

www.uprightcitizens.org

Wasn't the joke about black people as minstrels/entertainers? As well as a comment on elections as entertainment over substance? It is pretty edgy, so if Rudolph had drawn more attention to herself as Michelle, it could have been offensive.

Is it already? Is that what made the salon women say it wasn't funny? Your Broadsheet commentators' criticisms that Maya wasn't funny and then suggestions for ways to make fun of other people, not Ms. Obama, shows that to actually make fun of her is difficult.

Political humour has to balance just on the edge of offensiveness. It is hard to go overboard making fun of Bill Clinton, so it is easier to make him the subject of the laugh.