October 4, 2015

Yes, I watched "Saturday Night Live" with Hillary.

I thought the cold open with the Trump impersonator was very entertaining. I even liked Miley Cyrus singing "My Way" as the monologue. But Hillary did fine. Of course, the show loves her and exalted her as much as they could get away with... or more... that shoe stuff in the end was embarrassing. But Hillary herself looked good — maybe she should dress like a bartender all the time — and she showed some comic spark.

ADDED: By the way, when did it become a thing for women to wear flesh-colored shoes? Is it related to that awful trend of ice skaters wearing flesh-colored tights that come down over the skates? "Exhibit A: Sarah Hughes, 2002 Olympic Gold Medalist":



Notice that in the first GOP debate, Carly Fiorina was wearing those seemingly ubiquitous flesh-tone shoes:



It's like they're saying: Don't consider me to be wearing shoes at all. Just think of my feet as an inconspicuous continuation of my legs.

In the second debate, however, she upgraded to shoes that were shoes!

104 comments:

Skeptical Voter said...

Maybe Hillary should be a bartender--in some dive dump of a bar in Brooklyn and leave us all alone.

Big Mike said...

I watched "Saturday Night Live" with Hillary.

The things you do for us so that we don't have to! Thank you, ma'am.

Laslo Spatula said...

"By the way, when did it become a thing for women to wear flesh-colored shoes?"

It gets Foot-Fetish Men a little closer to The Dream.

I am Laslo.

khesanh0802 said...

Shouldn't someone sue SNL for them coordinating an in-kind donation to Hillary's campaign? Air time is not free!

great Unknown said...

Calling that color "flesh" is racist. Which is why Crayola now calls that color "peach."

I am waiting for the lynch mobs to start marching in front of your house...

ndspinelli said...

I'm seeing subtle preludes for the "Why I'm voting for Hillary" coming from Mrs. Althouse in 2016. Don't you folks see it? "Those who don't understand history are doomed to repeat it."

Joe Biden, America's Putin said...

Amazing how all the Clinton Foundation corruption can be swept under the rug with a nice little propaganda spot on SNL.

Laslo Spatula said...

Miley Cyrus has already done more for America than Hillary has ever done.

Thank you for the nude photos, Miley!

I am Laslo.

William said...

We are all endebted to SNL for highlighting the one flaw in Mrs. Clinton's otherwise blameless record: she was somewhat late in getting on the gay marriage bandwagon.....,,How much money would the Koch brothers have to spend to get SNL and every late night comic in Ametica to relentlessly mock Hillary's vapidity?

Irene said...

Kate Middleton popularized the "nude"-colored shoes.

Michael K said...

"Shouldn't someone sue SNL for them coordinating an in-kind donation to Hillary's campaign? Air time is not free!"

Disney and ABC are way ahead of them in the pandering department with the suppression of "The Path To 9/11" TV series that told the truth about why 9/11 happened. Maybe after Hillary dies or goes away, we will get a chance to see it again. That has cost ABC and Disney (the owner) a fortune. Maybe $100 million.

Original Mike said...

"Shouldn't someone sue SNL for them coordinating an in-kind donation to Hillary's campaign? Air time is not free!"

I'm sure John Chisholm will get right on that.

Ann Althouse said...

"Flesh" or "nude" isn't politically incorrect when a full range of shades is available: "Christian Louboutin's 'nude' shoes reclaim the word for non-white skin/'Nude' is used in fashion as synonymous with white skin. Now a leading shoe designer is offering the leg-lengthening power of nude shoes to more skin tones."

Joe Biden, America's Putin said...

Did SNL-DNC joke about how if Hillary were anyone else, she would be indicted by now?

pm317 said...

Althouse, do you feel obligated to talk about Fiorina in all (most) of your Hillary posts?

whitney said...

I love nude shoes. Always have

Known Unknown said...

Shouldn't someone sue SNL for them coordinating an in-kind donation to Hillary's campaign? Air time is not free!

Hillary should. Because, Citizens United.

Known Unknown said...

SNL punching sideways. Like always.

William said...

I'm not crazy about the rest of her persona, but as a singer Miley has real talent. That rendition of My Way was pretty good.......Snead O'Connor through the years has gotten better if not saner. Maybe Sinead's good looks and politics detracted from the beauty of her voice. She can really find the sorrow and the poetry in traditional ballads like On Raglan Road, and all that crazy stuff is now extraneous......I would advise Miley, however, to look to Sinead to see how tattoos look on an older woman.

SayAahh said...

Yep, the "real" shoes Carly wore in the second debate made all of the difference in her performance.
Self confidence and debating skills come from the bottom up.
What is it with women and shoes?

ndspinelli said...

pm317, Dissing the Republican woman is part of the transparent prelude "This is why I'm voting for Hillary." Don't be rubes. She's playing you all like a cheap guitar.

chuck said...

> What is it with women and shoes?

I like coming here during the election season just to get the style perspective. Or perhaps I should call it the woman's perspective. As a rather normal guy myself, I'm functionally blind to style and the way women view the candidates is like entering a parallel universe.

Hagar said...

So, what do you think the theme for Hillary!'s campaign might be for next week?

cubanbob said...

What's more pathetic, our hostess obsession with shoe color or the SNL ass kissing of Hillary!? If Hillary can't shine on DNC TV where can she shine?

Known Unknown said...

I like coming here during the election season just to get the style perspective. Or perhaps I should call it the woman's perspective. As a rather normal guy myself, I'm functionally blind to style and the way women view the candidates is like entering a parallel universe.

Not to be mean, but have you seen the Professor's sense of 'style?'

SomeoneHasToSayIt said...


Why is Hillary not in jail?

Anonymous said...

It's a free country, Ms. Althouse gets to vote for who she wants. What business it is of anyone's? MYOB.

Sebastian said...

MSM gives rape-abetting congenital liar a free assist. Therefore, we need to talk about shoes.

As my whimsy leads me.. said...

I think most women wear shoes in shades of "flesh," beige, and taupe because they are neutral, go with just about anything, and aren't as stark a contrast as black. Carly's cranberry suit would have been pretty hard to match in color, especially if she has any hard-to-find shoe size (especially in a narrow width). What I think is more interesting is that Carly wore that same cranberry suit when she gave a speech at the 2008 Republican National Convention. She wore darker shoes then. I wonder if she realized she was selecting her "Republican suit"? How many wealthy women would still be wearing an outfit they wore seven years before, and at two such conspicuous events? That fits one definition of "conservative," doesn't it?

Toy

Birkel said...

EverlyBro,
By that light anybody who wishes can criticize, cajole or mock however they so choose. FOAD

ddh said...

The Ann, she loves the shoes.

The Godfather said...

OK, if Althouse can be a TV critic, so can I.

The Donald Trump bit wasn't clever, but it would be almost impossible for it to be so. He's a better parody of himself than any actor. It's like trying to do a send-up of Tiny Tim (the singer with the ukelele, not the crippled kid from A Christmas Carol). The Melania was pretty good -- at least I think so; I've never seen the real one, but she portrayed comically the bimbo you'd imagine Trump with.

Myley Cyrus saddens me. She has a good singing voice, she performs well, she's even fairly attractive except for the tattoos. She really shouldn't have to make herself a one-person freak show.

The only thing clever about the Hillary bar scene was having Hillary in it. The first thing that accomplished was to ruin the credibility of the actress who plays Hillary on SNL -- Did you have any trouble telling them apart? I understand that this was supposed to "humanize" Hillary -- which wouldn't be an objective if she really were human. Sure, she played along with the gags; I wonder how long it took the director to train her not to defend (or deny) her previous positions on Keystone and gay marriage? It would have helped if they could have worked in her saying "Sock it to Me". Hillary's best demographic remembers Laugh In and Nixon. Like me. Not that I'd ever vote for her. For Nixon, maybe I'd give him another chance.

SukieTawdry said...

Looked hard for a comic spark. Couldn't find one.

Paco Wové said...

"It would have helped if they could have worked in her saying "Sock it to Me"."

Yes, that would have been perfect.

SweatBee said...

Flesh-colored dress shoes have been on trend for a long time. So long that I had assumed they must be on their way out of style. Duchess Kate has been photographed wearing a nude pair of L.K. Bennett "Sledge" heels so often that for a while stores had trouble keeping them in stock.

Bob Ellison said...

Kate Middleton could start a trend by spitting on the sidewalk. Well, maybe not that way.

Lewis Wetzel said...

I'd never heard Miley Cyrus speak before I watched the vid. She is, what, 25 years old? She has the speaking voice of menopausal woman who smokes too much. And she has a weird accent that is hard to identify.

harrogate said...

She wore great shoes at the second debate. True story. I am no fan but I will give credit where credit is due.

Beldar said...

I don't regret watching it as an investment of time on current events, so I can assess the public reaction to it.

But I disagree with you, Prof. Althouse, about whether Hillary did "fine" or "showed comic spark." I thought she was wooden and awkward.

I suppose if you set a very low bar -- was this better than the "like, with a cloth?" moment for her? -- she did fine. But this is her scripted, backed up, polished, focus-group-tested, and thoroughly airbrushed by the adoring ministrations of the most successful comedy writers on network TV. The only un-controlled aspect of the entire performance was that it was on live television -- which SNL has been pioneering now, with live politicians playing themselves or other gag roles, for what, 40 seasons? Okay, so she didn't shoot off a toe on live TV.

sinz52 said...

Michael K:

ABC didn't suppress "The Path to 9/11." It was broadcast nationally on prime-time on Sunday night.

Besides,in the age of the Internet, nothing can be suppressed. If you want to watch it again, it's on YouTube.

Fred Drinkwater said...

ddh: Subtle, but Fabulous!
I am helpless, myself, to opine on shoes without the prior consultation with the Oracle.

Clyde said...

Carly doesn't have cankles, unlike some female presidential candidates.

BN said...

"She's playing you all like a cheap guitar."

Play, lady, play.
Play across my big ass head.

Fred Drinkwater said...

I'd say thank's to Ann for watching this so we don't have to, but...
Don't you have to draw the line SOMEWHERE? I'd rather jam pencils in my eyes than watch the mendacious Hillary on the lame SNL.

Alex said...

Those blue shoes look fab Carly.

narciso said...

it avoids the reality of an aloof, if not callous, corrupt public official, who has sold out to every foreign concern, who pays her way,

traditionalguy said...

It's KKK time. Karlie, Koch, and Koch.

The Brothers believe in Control in a Teutonic way. Fiorina just wants the job at any cost.

Rusty said...

whitney said...
I love nude shoes. Always have



I love nudes in shoes. Always have.

Ctmom4 said...

Hubby watched it, and he said the only funny part was when Bill poked his he'd in the bar, said " They're multiplying" and ran away. Now that's funny! Was it Daryl Hannah?

Carly's blue shoes are fab.

cf said...

Well, I guess our Overseers in the Ruling Overeducated Zealot Class are clear who they think ought to be elected President. How terrifying.

The way women voters in particular seem to be susceptible to political vapors makes me wonder, what the Hell, think for yourself, dammit.

Scary how bovine our Best and Brightest women and men are proving to be these days,

Godspeed, America

Ps: Carly's shoes? Any of us would be lucky to polish them, she is awesome.

Lewis Wetzel said...

"The Brothers believe in Control in a Teutonic way."
Damn those drug-legalizing, gun-loving, pro-gay-marriage Koch brothers! They want to trick you into thinking they aren't oppressing you by giving you more freedom!
Bastards. First against the wall when the revolution comes.

narciso said...

like the Canadian menace, they are wiley that way,

Chuck said...

I'd favor Hillary being a full-time bartender for the next 16 years.

MathMom said...

Skaters have always worn those. Keeps the laces covered in case they come undone (would trip them up if they got under a blade), and it makes their legs look longer which looks better in their routines.

MathMom said...

Just watched Hillary. She had to read every single word from the cue card, couldn't read ahead and remember it long enough to look at the "Hillary" at the bar. Maybe she did after 2 minutes, but that was all I could take.

The head injury is taking its toll.

pm317 said...

Oh, give her a break. She is not a trained actress/comedian to remember lines.

Sydney said...

I have never seen that shade described as "nude" or "flesh" in shoe catalogs. Usually "beige" or "bone" or "taupe." I like the color for the summer. It's less jarring than white.

JAORE said...

Just watched Hillary. She had to read every single word from the cue card, couldn't read ahead and remember it long enough to look at the "Hillary" at the bar. Maybe she did after 2 minutes, but that was all I could take.
/////////////////////////////////////////
Oh, give her a break. She is not a trained actress/comedian to remember lines.

I noted the fixed stare above and left of the Hillary she was speaking to also. Very distracting.

Yes, she's not a trained actress/comedian, but pols sometimes, just sometimes, have to give much longer speeches and/or regurgitate talking points. I expected better.

Chuck said...

Never wear blue shoes with a brown suit.

Anonymous said...

No Hillly fan, but even the SNL regulars can be seen reading cue cards much of the time.

tds said...

funny that NBC thinks, that if they block a video outside of US I'm not gonna watch it

404 Page Not Found said...

If Hillary wasn't a powerful liberal politician, she would have been indicted and arrested by now. There's nothing funny about that.

Robert Cook said...

"Maybe Hillary should be a bartender--in some dive dump of a bar in Brooklyn and leave us all alone."

The "dive dump bars" are an almost extinct animal throughout NYC's five boroughs. They can't afford the rent.

Robert Cook said...

"Why is Hillary not in jail?"

She's one of a protected class...Washington politicians, CIA torturers, American war criminals, corporate CEOs, bankers, and Wall Street executives.

Robert Cook said...

"I'd never heard Miley Cyrus speak before I watched the vid. She is, what, 25 years old? She has the speaking voice of menopausal woman who smokes too much."

She had that voice when she was a teen-age star of children's show HANNAH MONTANA.

Bob Ellison said...

Hillary is live on The Today Show this morning in a barn in New Hampshire. Tune in for a long event in the second half hour (right now on the east coast).

So far, she is trotting out her shrill "what difference does it make" persona.

Bob Ellison said...

The second hour of the show is billed as Mostly Hillary. Go NBC!

Robert Cook said...

"Carly's shoes? Any of us would be lucky to polish them, she is awesome."

She sure is, if by "awesome" you mean "awful."

(But then, this is a redundancy; it's enough to say she's one of those running for the nomination to become the President of the United States.)

rhhardin said...

Fiorina dresses up to make herself look unattractive.

rhhardin said...

DVDs, down to the dregs.

"Penelope" seems to be about a girl born with a pig nose who found a man that looked past her ugly face to see the real tits and ass underneath. I'll have to watch it. It's a Fiorina parable.

"Kill Bill" on the other hand is about pretty women better than men at fighting but whose mother instincts take over once the father his friends are finally knocked off. Instincts towards daughters anyway. This is a Hillary parable.

Brando said...

Are they going to give GOP candidates equal time? Or Bernie Sanders? If not then isn't this the type of "political speech" that should be regulated?

tim in vermont said...

I am pretty sure that appearing on SNL will not help Hillary with the target audience, who are much more into all the free shit and feelings of superiority for the recipients that Bernie is offering.

tim in vermont said...

BTW, I love a really sexy woman's shoe, which is one reason I like short women, but that second pair by Carly was strictly chosen for the color. Which is fine, it's not about her shoes, she just shouldn't look awful on TV, which she accomplished, I think.

rhhardin said...

Hang one of Carly's shoes over the door and it may bring good luck.

tim in vermont said...

Funny how passionate Lena Dunham is about rape, http://variety.com/2015/scene/vpage/judd-apatow-lena-dunham-bill-cosby-rape-foundation-brunch-1201609862/

Even rapes that happened years ago by people with the initials BC, but it utterly slipped her mind when interviewing Hillary.

They are not in the "entertainment" business to make a buck, they are in it for control, which they call "making a difference" but what is "making a difference" but exercising power.

tim in vermont said...

We get it @rhhardin, you don't like women, except the pretty ones when they bring you your slippers and a martini and give you a blow job when you get home from work.

Not to say I don't like those kind too, I just like other kinds of women as well.

Ann Althouse said...

For the nude shoes, I'm thinking of blaming Anna Wintour, who has been "wearing the same pair of nude, pointy-toed slingbacks not just to every London Fashion Week show she has attended over the past few days, but almost everywhere she has been since 1994, when they were first made-to-measure for the editor by Manolo Blahnik himself?"

Ann Althouse said...

"Carly's cranberry suit would have been pretty hard to match in color, especially if she has any hard-to-find shoe size (especially in a narrow width)."

A phrase from my previous comment: "made-to-measure."

tim in vermont said...

Remember when SNL used to be irreverent and rebellious? Now they are "reverent" and obedient and have been utterly co-opted by power.

At some point a new generation will wake up to this. Probably after my generation is dead so the dynamic SNL preys on is gone. Of course by that time they may have created a self perpetuating one party state against which irreverence and rebelliousness are forbidden.

Known Unknown said...

"of the most successful comedy writers on network TV"

She wasn't guest starring on South Park.

Robert Cook said...

It's hard to believe that SNL premiered 40 years ago this coming Sunday, Oct. 11!
I was in college at the time and remember watching it in the commons room of our dorm. Those 40 years have disappeared so swiftly, and 40 hears hence...I'll (most likely) be dead!

SeanF said...

Laslo Spatula: Miley Cyrus has already done more for America than Hillary has ever done.

Thank you for the nude photos, Miley!

I am Laslo.


I've read this about three times now. Laslo wants Hillary nudes, doesn't he?

tim in vermont said...

I was in college at the time and remember watching it in the commons room of our dorm.

Ha! Me too. Wasn't Gerald Ford a klutz?

Too bad there is never anything about Obama or Hillary to make fun of! It's a shame really all the good comedy the kids don't get to enjoy because our leaders are so perfect nowadays.

Bob Ellison said...

In the Netherlands, they still wear klompen, often in "nude" (bare wood) color.

rhhardin said...

Carly is playing the role of competent woman. She's an actress. The outfit is her idea of the right look.

What guy plays the role of competent guy?

Trump, except he plays it for laughs. He actually is competent. Perhaps not in statecraft. That remains to be seen. Does taking no shit work out in solving problems that have been unsolvable for decades, or not. Who knows.

tim in vermont said...

"Respect the cock!" - Shorter Trump.

rhhardin said...

The thing with Trump is that he breaks the media narrative. It's not clear that Carson can do that. It takes zingers.

Known Unknown said...

Comedy is honesty. Unless, of course, you have a Team to support.

MadisonMan said...

I found the least expensive shoes -- $20 -- on Saturday in the whole store. They fit great and feel like slippers.

That's my definition of a good shoe: Cheap and comfortable. Color is secondary.

Laslo Spatula said...

Chicks and their shoes. Some comedian should do a routine on that.

I am Laslo.

Todd G. said...

Bob Ellison -
There is nothing more uncomfortable than wooden shoes. Absolutely the worst.

Known Unknown said...

I'll take a stab at the figure-skating nude shoes and say they're colored that way to make the skater look sleeker and less bulky.
Also, makes her legs look longer.

Figure skates aren't elegant. If she's wearing white or black, it's going to stand out and look clunky. Even if she matches the color of her gown, there's going to be a weird break from the skin tone to the boot.

A differing color would also magnify when her feet aren't in the exact correct position.

So, at least, in skating it makes sense.

Bob Ellison said...

Todd G., they say in Holland that a goodly amount of breaking in makes wooden shoes comfy. Then again, they also say living in a house below sea level is a good idea.

Mel said...

Years ago, I was advised by a fashion consultant our company brought in to always wear shoes that match either my hosiery or my hemline. Perhaps Carly has also heard that advice and being unable to find shoes that match the rose-coloured shoes, went with beige shoes to match her hose. I'd buy the blue shoes she wore for the second debate in a heartbeat. Love them, but I do own a pair of neutral beige pumps, because they match what I can't find shoes for.

tim in vermont said...

they say in Holland that a goodly amount of breaking in makes wooden shoes comfy.

Breaking in what? The shoes or your feet? We had a couple of pairs of these around the house, brought home from Holland, but they were decorations, worn once maybe, by my sister who could get her feet into one pair, for about five minutes, tops.

Clogs on the other hand, were the first shoes I ever wore that actually fit my feet.

Quaestor said...

They say in Holland that a goodly amount of breaking in makes wooden shoes comfy.

Many years ago I attended a performance of Rossini's Il barbiere di Siviglia at the Lincoln Center. The director must have been "smoking something" because the chorus, costumed as Spanish street vendors, urchins, riff-raff, etc, were all wearing wooden shoes, for authenticity I suppose. When they moved from the wings onto their marks the sound of those clogs on the hardwood stage resembled machine-gun fire.

So I'm sitting there listing to that infernal noise and I blurt out what I consider a witty critique of a useless distraction. "Sabotage!" I exclaimed as loudly as I dared.

Nobody got the joke.

Stupid nooyahkuhs.

Robert Cook said...

"Too bad there is never anything about Obama or Hillary to make fun of! It's a shame really all the good comedy the kids don't get to enjoy because our leaders are so perfect nowadays."

What's too bad is that we don't have a Michael O'Donohue working at SNL to rip Hillary and Obama (and all the rest) new assholes!

Robert Cook said...

@Quaestor

I get it.

I guess that makes me a smart nooyahkuh!

Laslo Spatula said...

Robert Cook said...
"What's too bad is that we don't have a Michael O'Donohue working at SNL to rip Hillary and Obama (and all the rest) new assholes!"

Amen.

I am Laslo.

Todd G. said...

I agree with Tim in Vt. Those shoes break in your feet. Years ago I was with the NPS at a Rev War historic park. I lost a bet, and had to do a week of costumed interpretation with wooden shoes. Absolutely horrible. Though I was smart enough not to bet real money even then.

richard mcenroe said...

We'd be safer following Miley Cyrus' Middle East policy.

MathMom said...

Fiorina dresses up to make herself look unattractive.

Is that a bug or a feature? Maybe it is inefficient...she has to do one more step than Hillary to accomplish that end.

Anthony said...

I've seen some women wear black tights and black shoes that seemed to blend together like that and I find it a quite fetching effect.

Jolan.False said...

The cast and guests on SNL read cue cards, rather than memorize, because writers will keep reworking sketches up to the last minute.