Either Relevant or True » Affleck & Olbermann

A source described the skit as “savage,” in portraying Olbermann as a deranged person living at home with his mother. Affleck, said a source, became uneasy with Olbermann in attendance at the 3 p.m., closed-set rehearsal.

But Olbermann, through a spokesman, was complimentary on his first time being mocked on “SNL” — a position his MSNBC colleague Chris Matthews has been in over the years.

“I’m not Sarah Palin,” Olbermann said. “I know how valuable it is to me. And it’s funny.”

It sure is! Watch Ben - with perfect KO hair - after the jump!

The producers may as well have this as the number one story Monday (11/03)…

ONE: The Countdown Special for Election Weekend was so well done.

It all flowed so seamlessly, and yet through the many months when we were undergoing it all, there were constant shocks to the system.

It was so often impossible to know what the next day or week would bring. (And, we are still there.)

I also liked that it was not just the political action relentlessly moving on, but the personal bits from MSNBC as well, from the interrupting train whistle to Andrea Boom Boom Mitchell and the balloons at Rep Con to Rachel and Eugene chair dancing to Stevie Wonder and Pat Buchanan in his shades. (I heard earlier that today is Pat’s birthday, and that he is 70.).

I had the start of tears as the Special drew closer to the Democratic Convention, and when Hillary quoted Harriet Tubman, I did cry a bit.

All that build up to the sublime, and yet within a few hours of the crescendo of Obama’s acceptance speech, we were confronted by the ridiculousness of Sarah Palin, which has knocked the campaign back into Looney Tunes territory.

TWO: Ben Affleck on SNL. What an incredible actor.

That KO bit ran over 8 minutes, and while Affleck probably did have a prompter for that, most of which he carried on his own, he also had several other skits for which he had to memorize and rehearse.

Did I like the Countdown send up? I always assume that anytime I am helplessly choking on laughter and pounding the arms of my chair, it is really funny.

Although I wished that they had had a more believable Richard Wolffe.

When Afleck spun the chair all the way around to get a different camera angle I was beside myself. Plus, the convoluted language to avoid ending a sentence with a preposition.

I thought that Affleck started the show in the same wonderful purple with a dark stripe tie that KO wore for his presentation of his special and that the Countdown send up was done with a duplicate of Keith’s pink check tie. Great attention to detail.

After SNL ended, I switched back to MSNBC, and there was the Countdown special again. (How many times did they run that thing last evening? Sometimes back to back.)

And, this time, it seemed to me that KO was exaggerating some of his facial mannerisms, especially the nose in the air sniff in to tighten the nostrils, that Affleck had done. Mocking his own image.

And, making me wonder if the Countdown persona is not all an act - just a more subtle version of what Colbert gets away with.

Mom called me up after the opening skit, “Was that really John McCain?”

Yes mother, and that was really Cindy McCain.

Later I called her,

“That wasn’t really Keith, mom.”

“I knew that, but it was funny.”

The lovely crew on Fox and Friends were talking about “bad blood” between Keith and Ben Affleck. I thought this would be too tempting for them to pass up.

I think those are real mannerisms, but made more dramatic for the camera.(Affleck got those, which, imo? Funniest bit of the sketch. The text itself? Not that clever.)
Ok, except for equipment manager of the field hockey team at Cornell. Just the sort of random personal example that KO would share.
Personally, I believe he would name his cat something like “Casey Stengel”
But maybe that’s just me.
Ben was great, though. I bet he likes “Countdown”.

KO doesn’t strike me as a pet person. But if he had a cat, it would definitely be named Dick Trickle.

Fixed Noise and Fiends looks like WPitW nomination time.

I suppose he’s too busy for animals…two jobs, Saving Democracy.

Chicating: Sorry I was not clearer. Yes, it was Ben Affleck who made that hysterical. Most of it was not well written and was unbelievable re Keith. It was the look, shifts in tone of voice, and exaggerated mannerisms that had me laughing so hard. Add in the opening credits.

Keith actually always treats his guests with great civility and discusses issues.

And, I agree that I cannot see Keith being a cat person, especially not being owned by a white fluffy princess cat. Maybe a rangy striped un-neutered Tom.

Keith’s cat’s name? Fred Merkle.

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