'SNL': PRO-CLINTON ALLEGATIONS ARE NO LAUGHING MATTER (NYT, LAT)

By Nancy Tartaglione-Vialatte

Today�s New York and Los Angeles Times report that �Saturday Night Live� chief Lorne Michaels is rather troubled over accusations that the show has been favoring Hillary Clinton over Senator Barack Obama. �I�m in show business and I never, ever forget that,� Michaels told the NYT. �We put on a comedy show.�

Over the past three weeks �SNL� has put itself back into the national discussion via a series of sketches that have centered on the premise that Clinton has been the target of a vengeful press and also with the overt endorsement of Clinton by Tina Fey, the former �SNL� star who returned on Feb. 23 to be the host of the first show after the writers� strike.

In the weeks that followed, some commentators have cited the comedy bits as aids that have helped revive Clinton�s campaign. A study by the Pew research organization found that critical coverage of Obama had increased in the news media after the sketches, says the NYT.

When media toughened its coverage of Obama after a "SNL" sketch portrayed the press as fawning over him, analysts credited the show in part for the shift, notes the LAT.

Michaels said that he was happy the show had benefited from the attention but that he still worried about the perception.

�I�m sensitive to the suggestion that we�re in the service of Hillary Clinton this year,� he told the NYT. �That obviously is not the case.� He added, �We don�t lay down for anybody.�

Seth Meyers, one of the show�s head writers, told the LAT, "The show happens too quickly for any of us to have an agenda. And our egos as comedy writers are too big to ever let our own political loyalties get in the way of a joke. So we aim for whatever is the richest to be satirized on any given week."

Michaels, for his part, is a political independent who donated to both Democratic Sen. Chris Dodd and to Republican Sen. John McCain last year.

Star Amy Poehler said the show's mantra is that it's against "whoever is winning."

"There is a certain amount of being able to poke fun at everyone equally that's kind of nice," she told the LAT. "And so I think that anything more than that would be giving us too much responsibility and making us seem much smarter than we actually are."

"We're hoping for a dead tie in the delegates so it, like, goes on for another year," Meyers joked. "They have to postpone the general election."

"I also promise that by the end of the campaign," Meyers added, "both candidates will feel that we've portrayed them unfairly."