Saturday Night News with Edwin Newman

Edwin Newman returns to the SNL newsdesk as anchor, leading off with a disclaimer that he will not discuss the top story (the Election); as such, he is mainly here to introduce the guest commentaries. Julia Louis-Dreyfus makes her first appearance all night as Jeane Kirkpatrick, rebutting Rev. Jesse Jackson’s love jones from the previous show as her heart lies with President of El Salvador José Napoleón Duarte. Aside from the reference to the anti-Communist former Junta leader, this was mainly an exercise in cramming in as many vocal-fry “uhhhhs” and slang terms like “luscious bod” and “bitchin’ dude” as possible. Mary Gross returns as Dr. Ruth, who compares the 1984 election to sex, with the campaign as foreplay and the election as orgasm (which is often faked). This was more of a “get out the vote” message but still a fair bit more memorable than the last few Dr. Ruth appearances. Rich Hall warns of an alarming trend: voting while intoxicated, which is responsible for the election of Jimmy Carter. SNL did a PSA-style bit in 2000 on the same topic, but this takes a different approach, using found footage to show the effects of alcohol on voters. Edwin Newman discusses different amendments on the ballot this Tuesday, lamenting that not one involves changing a state song because, as he demonstrates, too many of them involve spelling out the state names. It’s a little repetitious once you realize where the bit is going, but it’s helped by Newman’s deadpan (he states up front that he will read the lyrics and not sing them), and it builds to the hypothetical Washington D.C. song, which spells out “District of Columbia”. Nate Herman believes he wrote this piece. Newman concludes tonight’s news segment wishing everyone a good night, good tomorrow, good rest of the week, and so forth. Kind of an odd extended bit to close with.

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