Well, I don't know about you, but I was somewhat disturbed by the Saturday TV Funhouse that aired on SNL's May 15 show. It parodies a old Hanna-Barbera cartoon character named Shazzan (renamed Shazzang for SNL), a 60 foot tall genie who defends a pair of hapless twins, Chuck and Nancy, from various Arabian evildoers with assistance from a flying but not-quite-talking camel named Kaboobie. Shazzan has a habit of being rather cheeky as he thwarts his tiny opponents, taunting them with a beguiling array of wiseacre remarks. In Smigel's version, Shazzang takes it several steps further through the use of excessive violence and torture.
As always, the parodic aspect of the piece is first-rate. The satirical point, however, is a bit cloudy. Sure, you could say that Smigel is angrily holding up a mirror to society, juxtaposing yesterday's innocently righteous hero with the vengeful, righteous violence junkie of today. And, yes, you could argue that Smigel is presenting us with insightful commentary on similarly excessive torture being used on our enemy prisoners in Guantanamo Bay and Abu Ghraib.
But still, this is pretty fucked up.
Click here to see a Quicktime Movie (15MB) Shazzang.mov
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