Harvard’s Class Day—the day before the actual Commencement—has always been the place where the REAL SPEECHES are made. This year’s speech, by SNL Alum and NBC Star Amy Poehler, was brilliant. We provide a little snippet of our favorite part: a bit of sound advice and, more importantly, her rules of life are SPOT ON!!!! Long live IMPROV!
Posts Tagged ‘SNL’
Amy Poehler’s Class Day Address to the Harvard Class of 2011: The Best Advice Ever
Posted in Comedy, tagged Amy Poehler, Class Day, Harvard, Harvard Class of 2011, Improv, Saturday NIght Live, SNL on June 17, 2011| 2 Comments »
SNL and Latinos: Be Funny, Por Favor?
Posted in Latino, Leadership, Social Media, Twitter, Writing, tagged Being Latino, Latino, Latino in America, latinos, Latinos in America, LATISM, Leadership, NBC, SNL, Social Media, Twitter on January 16, 2011| 20 Comments »
Before I begin this post, a little bit about me: I love stand-up and great sketch comedy. Since 1993, I have done improv comedy in the Boston area with ImprovBoston, a Boston comedy institution. I love humor that is intelligent yet hilarious (why someone like Eddie Murphy or Chris Rock is genius). I wanted to share my background since what I am going to say next might sound a little bit knee-jerky.
NBC’s Saturday Night Live, one of the TV’s longest-running brands (and some say a brand that has run too long), still doesn’t get it when it comes to Latinos and comedy. Its only Latino cast member is Fred Armisen (half-Venezuelan), who has been on the show for 9 years and developed the “Fericito” characters and the catchphrase “I’m just keeeeeeding.” There is no major high-profile Latino comedy writer, and quite frankly, SNL just misses the boat.
It is as if SNL has one theme when it comes to Latinos: always have them speak with accents because that is funny. Got it, SNL. You have been doing that same tired bit since Garrett Morris (a non-Latino) played Chico Escuela (“Ebaseball has been berry berry good to me.”) in the 1970s.

Chico Escuela
The show has never had an Eddie Murphy Latino equivalent (Horatio Sanz? Really?) and I am convinced that it never will, unless SNL realizes that if you are going to try and target key demographics, you should at least try to be funny.
So instead of getting comedy that might actually connect with a growing and savvy US Latino demographic, we get skits like these (ESPN Deportes), which ran on the January 16 show with Gwenyth Paltrow:
Ok, the idea of the skit is funny. The execution is not. Yeah, we get it, but it could have been so much more clever. Maybe actually having bilingual and bicultural writers on your staff might actually help? Yes, SNL we get it, ever since Chico Escuela, your characterizations of Latinos of unintelligent, foreign and party-loving dolts is a theme that we’re tired of.
So less skits about “The Manuel Ortiz Show,” like this one:
And more skits that just, mmh, maybe just have some real Latino talent doing mainstream comedy?
Maybe it just doesn’t matter to you.
But we’re not keeeeeeding.
#SoyRebelde
We are Papá Heroes
@julito77
#LatinoLit
Spotlight
-
Recent Posts
Tweets
- RT @latinorebels: Statement from @RepChuyGarcia about #AdamToledo issued on Thursday: “I feel grief, anger, and pain. Whatever the circums… 8 minutes ago
- Really good and comprehensive story by @Nicolemarie_A of @NBCLatino about yesterday's @NRDems hearing about… twitter.com/i/web/status/1… 10 hours ago
- RT @RogelioSaenz42: My piece that appeared today in Latino Rebels calling attention to our Latino community surpassing 100,000 COVID-19 dea… 10 hours ago
- RT @PostOpinions: A violent police encounter in Virginia is a reminder of the anti-Black racism Latinos must fight, @julito77 writes https:… 12 hours ago
- RT @Maria_Hinojosa: Adam Toledo was a child. Not a threat. 12 hours ago
Top Posts on JRV.com
Top Clicks
- None
Blog Stats
- 451,589 visits
SiteMeter
Comments
ThePaganSun on Why Puerto Rico Will Never Bec… JB on Why Puerto Rico Will Never Bec… NJB on Being Latino Founder Lance Río… Open Forum
This is an open forum. Comments will be posted as is and unedited unless the original comments includes the following:
• Profanity directed at an individual to the point that it constitutes a personal attack and insult.
We welcome civil and respectful debate.
The opinions and content expressed by the author of this blog, Julio Ricardo Varela, are his and his alone. They do not reflect any of the organizations Julio is a part of. They are his own opinions, and this blog is his personal blog.