What the heck is it with Betty White? Her agent is logging a lot of overtime lately (all while shrieking ‘Honey, I Blew Up the Commission Check’). But who is writing her material – Andrew Dice Clay? Many parts of White’s recent hosting gig on Saturday Night Live could only be described as demeaning and vulgar. Sure, there were a few moments… but do we really need to hear 88-year-old Betty White joking about “muffins,” prison sex and lesbians? NBC’s own PR machine labeled the content ‘raunchy…’ but in a good way of course! SNL’s Seth and Amy might say, “Betty White in prison garb cracking jokes about rear ends — Really?! No, Really?!”
Betty White is a TV trailblazer and icon – popular actress on the groundbreaking Mary Tyler Moore Show and an hysterical off-beat widow on The Golden Girls. Her work earned numerous Emmy Awards, the first coming in 1952 for a comedy White starred at her local TV station — a long an admirable career to say the least!
Now, this Golden Girl has entered the Twilight Zone.
Late, late night host Craig Ferguson apparently started making White a regular in recent years (it is not known whether anyone actually watches Ferguson’s show, but studies on YouTube has proven it exists). The Betty White bit was simple: sweet, half-cocked old lady says something shocking or offensive – like when she called Sarah Palin ‘one crazy bitch’ during the 2008 Presidential campaign. Typical, sophomoric and forgettable late-night shenanigans.
But now Betty White’s snarky shtick has jumped the shark. Take the “NPR, Delicious Dish” sketch on SNL last weekend – please! In it, White was forced to repeat a sexual innuendo about her ‘muffin.’ The lazy SNL writers were ripping off an earlier show where Alec Baldwin talked about his ‘Schweddy Balls.’
Betty, sweetheart… you’re better than this!
The joke (and the tedious sketch) just went on and on. Perhaps White should have just beat a dead horse. After the first 10 minutes of SNL, a dead horse beating might have been just what the doctor ordered — it certainly couldn’t have been any more uncomfortable or offensive.
In any case, 2010 adds an indelible asterisk to White’s long and accomplished resume. It marks the time a beautiful and talented lady of comedy — who knew how to deliver a good joke – just became one instead.
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