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CNN Saturday Morning News
Al Gore Appears on "Saturday Night Live."
Aired December 14, 2002 - 07:30 ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
ARTHEL NEVILLE, CNN ANCHOR: Former Vice-President Al Gore takes on a new role tonight, television star and comedian. That's right, he's going to appear on "Saturday Night Live." Now Gore, as you probably know, isn't the first politician who has tried to tickle the funny bone of voters. CNN's Bruce Morton takes a look now at the best and worst of this political humor.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
BRUCE MORTON, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): He's back; he's been on everything. Is it a new Gore? He's funny sometimes.
KATIE COURIC, MSNBC "Today": ... if you are considering it...
DAVID LETTERMAN, "The Late Show": You must feel different about it now than you did two years ago.
MORTON: He's been funny before. Remember 1996 and the Macarena?
AL GORE, FORMER VICE PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES: And if I could have your silence, I would like to demonstrate for you the Al Gore version of the Macarena.
Would you like to see it again?
MORTON: Funny in New Hampshire in the last campaign.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: I have a presentation. It is a book called "How to Talk Yankee."
MORTON: That was about the time he started wearing earth tones on the advice of a political consultant. Remakes can work. Richard Nixon lost the presidency in 1960, left politics in 1963. This is my last press conference, he said, after losing the race for governor of California, and then won it all in 1968. Even did a turn on Rowan and Martin's "Laugh In."
RICHARD M NIXON, FORMER PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES: Sock it to me?
MORTON: And Gore; he's doing "Saturday Night Live."
E. J. DIONNE, WASHINGTON POST: I don't think you're going to see a total remake precisely because during the last campaign one of the problems Gore had was that people thought he kept remaking himself.
MORTON: There was the kiss. DIONNE: There was a different Gore that appeared in each of the three presidential debates so I think he has to be -- you know -- more careful, in a sense, than Nixon was.
MORTON: Will he do it again? He looks like a candidate, and he has an economic plan. It is a challenge, an ordeal, some times a trial, unlike anything else in American life. It is very hard work.
GORE: I benefit from low expectations.
MORTON: That was then, this is now. Is there a new Gore? If he starts winning primaries, that might tell us.
DIONNE: The system itself will create the opportunity for him either to prove that he's now a winning candidate or to prove that he still has the problems that we all described when he ran against President Bush.
MORTON: Meanwhile, "Saturday Night Live," a different challenge.
NIXON: Sock it to me?
MORTON: Bruce Morton, CNN, Washington.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
TO ORDER A VIDEO OF THIS TRANSCRIPT, PLEASE CALL 800-CNN-NEWS OR USE OUR SECURE ONLINE ORDER FORM LOCATED AT www.fdch.com
Aired December 14, 2002 - 07:30 ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
ARTHEL NEVILLE, CNN ANCHOR: Former Vice-President Al Gore takes on a new role tonight, television star and comedian. That's right, he's going to appear on "Saturday Night Live." Now Gore, as you probably know, isn't the first politician who has tried to tickle the funny bone of voters. CNN's Bruce Morton takes a look now at the best and worst of this political humor.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
BRUCE MORTON, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): He's back; he's been on everything. Is it a new Gore? He's funny sometimes.
KATIE COURIC, MSNBC "Today": ... if you are considering it...
DAVID LETTERMAN, "The Late Show": You must feel different about it now than you did two years ago.
MORTON: He's been funny before. Remember 1996 and the Macarena?
AL GORE, FORMER VICE PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES: And if I could have your silence, I would like to demonstrate for you the Al Gore version of the Macarena.
Would you like to see it again?
MORTON: Funny in New Hampshire in the last campaign.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: I have a presentation. It is a book called "How to Talk Yankee."
MORTON: That was about the time he started wearing earth tones on the advice of a political consultant. Remakes can work. Richard Nixon lost the presidency in 1960, left politics in 1963. This is my last press conference, he said, after losing the race for governor of California, and then won it all in 1968. Even did a turn on Rowan and Martin's "Laugh In."
RICHARD M NIXON, FORMER PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES: Sock it to me?
MORTON: And Gore; he's doing "Saturday Night Live."
E. J. DIONNE, WASHINGTON POST: I don't think you're going to see a total remake precisely because during the last campaign one of the problems Gore had was that people thought he kept remaking himself.
MORTON: There was the kiss. DIONNE: There was a different Gore that appeared in each of the three presidential debates so I think he has to be -- you know -- more careful, in a sense, than Nixon was.
MORTON: Will he do it again? He looks like a candidate, and he has an economic plan. It is a challenge, an ordeal, some times a trial, unlike anything else in American life. It is very hard work.
GORE: I benefit from low expectations.
MORTON: That was then, this is now. Is there a new Gore? If he starts winning primaries, that might tell us.
DIONNE: The system itself will create the opportunity for him either to prove that he's now a winning candidate or to prove that he still has the problems that we all described when he ran against President Bush.
MORTON: Meanwhile, "Saturday Night Live," a different challenge.
NIXON: Sock it to me?
MORTON: Bruce Morton, CNN, Washington.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
TO ORDER A VIDEO OF THIS TRANSCRIPT, PLEASE CALL 800-CNN-NEWS OR USE OUR SECURE ONLINE ORDER FORM LOCATED AT www.fdch.com
