1. Saturday Night Live: Flight Announcement (staring Kristen Wiig and Megan Fox)
2. Pam Ann: Cabin Service (staring Pam Ann)
3. Carol Burnett Show: No Frills Airline (staring Carol Burnett, Tim Conway, and Harvey Korman)
4. MadTV: Flight attendants (staring Susan Sarandon)
5. Saturday Night Live: Total Bastard Airlines (staring David Spade & Helen Hunt)
Southwest Airlines has had some troubles recently, including an incident where the roof of one of their planes just, you know, started to tear away from the rest of the aircraft. On this past weekend’s episode of Saturday Night Live, Weekend Update welcomed a flight attendant from that damaged flight. Well, it was the talented Kristin Wiig portraying one of the Dallas-based airline’s employees. Seeing as how the plane landed safely and there was only one reported injury (to a flight attendant, though), we see nothing wrong with cracking a few jokes about the situation. Besides, it’s about time we all got to see those oxygen masks put to use.
Was the skit out of bounds? Did you get a laugh out of it? Let us know in the comments.
Cruises have long been the butt of jokes in the travel world. From the midnight buffets to the touristy nature of the industry, many travel snobs enjoying mocking cruises. But does that mean that these floating resorts – and the people who enjoy them – deserve to be disrespected? Apparently, the writers at Saturday Night Live believe so. This past weekend, Miley Cyrus hosted the long-running sketch show and played a jaded singer who resented that her failed career had led her to be the entertainment on a cruise ship. She openly ridiculed the passengers and the intent was obviously to put down the people who enjoy cruises.
Was it a cheap joke or an accurate representation of the cruise world? At the very least, it was a poorly written sketch that lacked a strong punchline. It’s no wonder that it was buried in the last ten minutes of the show. What do you think? Was the sketch funny, out of bounds, accurate? I’m sure that our resident cruise expert, Chris Owen, has an opinion and you can let us know what you think in the comments.
Back when Jon Stewart’s The Daily Show poked fun at Butte, Montana because of the Berkeley Pit, the shut-down copper mine that’s almost filled to the brim with toxic water, and is a tourist site anyway, I felt bad. I love Butte, Montana and visit every summer. It was one of my budget travel options back in January. The Daily Show’s version of Butte did not do it justice.
Now Hawaii is in the fray of popular culture tomfoolery. Saturday Night Live poked fun at Hawaiian tourism last week with a skit of fake hula dancers in a restaurant filled with tourists. Within the skit, issues of authenticity, lack of a working wage by those working in the tourist industry, race and other issues that highlight the clash between those looking for a dream vacation and those hired to make the dream happen were mixed together.
Linda Lingle, the governor of Hawaii, is mad about the skit because she feels that it sheds an unfair light on an industry upon which Hawaii depends to a large degree. Because of the economy, Hawaiian tourism is suffering. Bad publicity could do more damage. I’m not too sure about that — particularly if Hawaii uses the skit as a stepping off point to show just how much Hawaii has to offer besides hula dancers. [Saturday Night video after the jump.]
Before I went to Hawaii several years ago, I had Tiki statues and big wooden fork and spoon wall hanging sets in mind. What I found is a lush, culturally rich, gorgeous place that I was enthralled by. We didn’t stay in Waikiki, but with relatives who live on the other side of Oahu. What the governor needs to do is point out how Hawaii is a fascinating state with a history unlike any other.
I’m always amazed when I find out that people went there without going to The Bishop Museum or the Mission Houses Museum or the palace. The role of Hawaii during World War II is also important. A trip to Pearl Harbor and the Punch Bowl shows that. As part of our trip, we went to the Big Island where at Hawaii Volcanoes National Park learned more about volcanoes and Hawaii’s geological make up. These are just a few places that highlight Hawaii’s uniqueness.
I think what the skit did is point out the dissonance between people who head to a place with an idea in their minds about what the location is about without considering the darker side. Any place that tries to bring in tourist dollars could do a similar skit. Saturday Night Live just happened to pick Hawaii. So what if paradise has a darker side? Isn’t that true about anything? It’s the ying and the yang.
On the other side of the dark side is the light which is the reason why Hawaii is such a great place to go on a vacation–just don’t stop at the hula skirts. Have fun with the schlock, notice the disparity, but get out of the places that are geared for the cliche and explore. See what else Hawaii has to offer. It’s plenty, and these days Hawaii is a terrific vacation value.
Admittedly, I think the Saturday Night Live skit is funny. I didn’t watch the episode, but I headed to You Tube as soon as I read about the controversy. The reason I think it’s funny is because I loved watching Dwayne Johnson hula dance. His legs and arm movements just cracked me up. Plus, he looked like he was having a great time.
In case you didn’t see it, here it is. The copy isn’t the best, but you’ll get the idea.
What is it about Ohio? During Jay Leno’s monologue last night, he quipped about a man who is suing a strip club in Akron for getting hit in the face with a stripper’s boot when it flew off her foot during a high kick.
That’s more weird than the story I heard on Saturday Night Live last September about Sarah Palin’s face being mowed into a corn maze in northern Ohio.
Here’s what happened in Akron, according to this report on Ohio.com. When the man’s cousin from out of town came for a visit, the bright idea of heading to a strip club for a good time came up. So off they went, perching themselves on chairs close to the stage.
Unfortunately, when “Tiara” did her high kick, her boot flew off, smacking Yusuf Evans in the nose, bending it a manner that it shouldn’t have been bent. Because the boot was a platform-style boot, it did extra damage. Now Evans says he has a hard time breathing out of one nostril. It gets clogged, you see. He’s asking for more than $25,000 compensation for his woes.
To avoid getting hit in the face with a stripper’s boot, here are three suggestions for what to see in Akron if one has an out of town guest. You can see a stripper club anywhere, but these three places are one-of-a-kind.