Republicans can take a joke better than Democrats, according to "Saturday Night Live" creator and producer Lorne Michaels.
"Republicans are easier for us than Democrats," Michaels
said in an interview with New York Magazine, also published on Vulture.com. "Democrats tend to take it personally; Republicans think it's funny."
He added that the SNL writers don't have a need to use the first family as their main source of material every week.
"This week, our cold open is about three big stories," he explained. "We have Piers Morgan interviewing A-Rod, Chris Christie and Justin Bieber. We're doing more of that kind of thing than stuff about Benghazi or the new budget agreement."
"The country has lost interest in it. I can't tell you why," Michaels said. "It's no less important, but in some way you can't do healthcare more than twice, at which point there's just nothing left."
"But Jay Pharoah does a really good Obama," he added.
New York Magazine's Lane Brown asked why SNL tends to produce a lot of conservatives, particularly Victoria Jackson, Jon Lovitz, Dennis Miller, Norm MacDonald, Colin Quinn, Jim Downey and Adam Sandler.
"Well, let's put Victoria in a separate category," Michaels explained. "When she arrived here, she was married to a fire-eater. Then she married an old boyfriend who was a cop. She was always deeply Christian."
"I would say Norm is more cranky than political," he added.
However, he said that SNL has never been about a particular political agenda.
"Our job — and it sounds too grand to say and none of us ever say it — is speaking truth to power," he said. "Theoretically, whoever it is in power, we're against them."
President Barack Obama is the first president since Ronald Reagan who hasn't gotten as much air time.
"He was an actor, and the public already knew that, and they voted for him anyway," Michaels said. "We couldn't find a way in."
SNL just hired a female black comedian in January after going without one since 2007, something the late night comedy show was criticized for, since there wasn't anyone to play first lady Michelle Obama.
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