NBC
Last week Saturday Night Live fired two female cast members, Michaela Watkins and Casey Wilson, only to replace them with two new female cast members, Jenny Slate and Nasim Pedrad. A simple case of out with the slightly old (Watkins had only been on the show a year and Wilson for two) and in with the new? A minor blip on the radar of a show that hasn’t been consistently funny in a long time? Shuffling deck chairs on the Titanic? Not so, says E! Online’s Ted Casablanca.
He points out that Watkins has been pretty much OK with the firing, going so far as to give an interview to EW.com, while Wilson has yet to say a word publicly about it. The reason for this, according to Casablanca? She was fired for being fat.
He cites an unnamed, “inside comedy source” that told him SNL producers told Wilson to lose 30 pounds during the show’s summer break. Well, Wilson didn’t lose a pound, and therefore lost her job. Whether she hates exercise or hates the inherent sexism in this demand is unknown.
Wilson is hardly svelte, but by no means should she have been pressured to lose a single pound. She looks like a normal, relatable woman, and being a size 4 is hardly a pre-requisite for making people laugh. If this is true, it signals a pretty dark chapter in SNL's history.
Of course, Casablanca covers himself by saying that it could be Wilson was fired for not being funny or creating a hit character during her two year run on the show. He even linked to a Funny or Die video she made highlighting this. You can get to that video here, but be warned it contains two adult words.
Casablanca’s article then devolves into great vengeance and furious anger, some of which is even justified. Unfortunately, the man’s argument is undercut by a generous helping of stupidity.
First up, he writes that SNL added “two pretty white chicks to a mostly white cast.” Pedrad is Iranian, which I’m pretty sure is not the same as Caucasian (the videos in this have been removed, but you get the idea) . He then suggests they hire more comediennes of color, saying there are “plenty of hilarious black and Asian and nonwhite comedians out there.” That’s fine and that’s true, but maybe Casablanca might want to offer a suggestion or two. People who point out problems without offering solutions are the worst kind of critic. (I'd recommend Anjelah Johnson, but she was on MadTV and that might disqualify her).
One of Casablanca’s arguments makes perfect sense, but it gets lost in the rest of his hyperbole. “Lorne [Michaels, SNL’s big boss] needs to wake up and realize we tune in to SNL to laugh, not get turned on,” he writes. He’s exactly right, of course. People turn into sitcoms, variety shows, and pay to see funny movies to laugh. With a few exceptions, we don’t care if the people are attractive, so long as they make us laugh. Look at the success of ABC's According to Jim.
Casablanca points out the great number of fat/ugly men on the show, but conveniently ignores the surplus of unattractive/downright plain women who’ve starred on that show. Cheri Oteri is one of the funniest women to appear on the show, but she’s no one’s idea of a pin up girl. Remember when Victoria Jackson was supposed to be “the hot one?” Probably not, because your self-preservation instincts kicked in and you blocked those memories. For every Chris Farley, there’s a Rachel Dratch. For every Jon Lovitz, a Melanie Hutsell.
The common denominator between these people? They all made us laugh more often than not. Would it have helped if they were attractive? Not if they weren’t funny, too.
We can take that argument further. Does an all-white or all-Latino or all-black cast mean something is automatically funny? Does SNL need to diversify a bit? Most likely. Should we make a big deal about it if it doesn’t on our time table? Probably not. Comedy rarely conforms to our expectations, and that's usually what makes it funny.
What do you think?
Comments
Ugh, disgusting! I bet my moon pie that she weighs less than the average american woman. Lose 30 pounds? She would be a skeleton!
Well, honestly, Casey was one of the most attractive cast members the show has had in a very long time. Maybe someone is putting all his stock in Wiig, for some reason.
If they told her to lose the weight and she didn't, then she deserved to get fired.
Discrimination. If she would be an actress to play in a big movie and that would require to lose weight...ok...but as a comedian? She is not even fat.
Nonsense.
Two middle fingers to Lorne, one for each of my favourite ladies.
Even though Ted Casablankass is a tool that almost never gets it right, Lorne Michaels needs to be put in front of a death panel already...
There's a lot of debate about what does and does not qualify a group of people as being caucasian, so I'll just say this: if you took an Iranian and stuck him in with a bunch of white US Republicans, you probably wouldn't be able to tell him apart just by looking at the group.
while casey isn't skinny, I wouldn't call her fat either. its all about proportions, and she's got 'em. I thought she was very attractive but I guess I'm in the minority.
That fact that Wilson was asked to loose 30 pounds while on hiatis- made her weight THE condition of her employment. If she wasn't considered 'funny enough' then she would have been gone at that time. She is very attractive and is very easy to relate to...a real shame, double standard - double discrimination.
No, "Carnie" Wilson was a big fatso and one only felt sorry for her when she stood next to Kristen Wiig. Also, she wasnt funny.
That woman is maybe a size 16, she's NORMAL sized, she's smaller than Marliyn Monroe was. She's the NORMAL US size for women. She's well put togehter, not digusting and healthy. Wish I coudl say that the double token black/fat guy they have... what's his name... Kel? Keenan?
This is just more fattism. lorne needs to be sued.
To the person who said Casey is a size 16. There is no way she's a size 16! I'm a size 12 and she's thinner than I am. She looks like me when I was a size 8 and there's nothing fat about a size 8. That is unless you're like 4 feet tall, which Casey is not.
It was all speculation - Casey Wilson has spoken out about it and says the claim is unfounded, she was not fired for her weight. It's in the Showbiz section of CNN, it won't let me put the link. She spoke to People about it.
u know, that's so gay that someone had to make a rumor that she was fired for her wait. In all fairness, she was given two full years to make a name for herself. That's why she was fired. She might have only been a featured member, but she was in a lot of sketches because there weren't many girl cast members and not once did she make me laugh.
This misses the most important point -- Wilson has an astonishing body. All her weight is in her boobs. Men tuned in just to see her.
What do I think? I think you need to study up on what caucasian means, and who Iranians are. And maybe just lighten up on the racism in general.
What do I think? I think you need to study up on what caucasian means, and who Iranians are. And maybe just lighten up on the racism in general.
What do I think? I think you need to study up on what caucasian means, and who Iranians are. And maybe just lighten up on the racism in general.
What do I think? I think you need to study up on what caucasian means, and who Iranians are. And maybe just lighten up on the racism in general.
Nice to see non-dummies on the web.
Actually most ethnic Iranians are caucasian.
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