Cecily Strong clowns Texas Republicans’ anti-abortion push on Saturday Night Live
The veteran cast member makes a powerful, heartfelt plea for women's rights by acting the fool
TV News Abortion
With conservative forces working feverishly to attack the right to safe, legal abortion, including putting actual bounties on the heads of Texans who don’t agree with the GOP’s throwback view of women as property, pro-choice activists are energized as well. And while both sides of the abortion debate are pretty firmly entrenched by this point, a vocally pro-choice comedian like Saturday Night Live’s Cecily Strong can only do what she does best, as, on last night’s episode, the ten-season veteran premiered a particularly potent new character in Goober The Clown Who Had An Abortion When She Was 23.
Appearing on Weekend Update kitted out in full merry clown gear (spinning bow tie, squirting flower, malfunctioning bike horn, and all), Strong came out to uneasy audience applause greeting her creation. That only increased as Strong, alternating Goober’s clown schtick with what sure sounded like a personal tale of an abortion “the day before my 23rd birthday,” excoriated Texas’ Republican-controlled legislature for passing the nation’s most restrictive anti-abortion measure. But, you know, in a wacky way, since she’s a clown! “It’s a rough subject, so we’re gonna do fun clown stuff to make it more palatable!,” beamed Goober, before hastily offering Weekend Update anchor Colin Jost a nice, distracting ballon animal.
For Strong, who’s taken a more direct comic approach when addressing politicians on the issue of abortion in the past, Goober’s antics functioned as a jarringly furious delivery device for some bracingly frank talk. Not only about her (either Goober or Strong’s) abortion experience, but about how conservatives’ constant woman-shaming has stifled meaningful conversation about the procedure even among Strong (or Goober’s) close circle of friends. Noting that one in three American women have an abortion in their lifetime, Strong/Goober yet lamented how it takes going out on a limb for any woman to try and speak about the issue with her peers.
“And then, like, eight other clowns at the table say they’ve had an abortion, too, ’cause that’s how common it is,” Goober related, adding that, after that, “Everyone’s excited and relieved to be talking about it.” Cue bicycle horn, since Goober’s just a silly clown! You know, even when noting that, if she hadn’t had her abortion at 23, “I know I wouldn’t be a clown on TV today,” and that the only thing criminalizing abortion will do is ensure “a bunch of dead clowns in a dark alley.”
For Strong, the Goober’s manic routine served to mask her own barely contained anger at not only Texas’ patently unconstitutional law (which bans abortions even before women can know they’re pregnant) but also the successful stigmatization of a legal medical procedure that’s nobody’s goddamned business but the woman involved. (“What the dick is that?,” Strong asked of the Texas law, with Jost sheepishly reminding her about what you can’t say on live TV.) “It’s gonna happen, so it ought to be safe, legal, and accessible,” Strong/Goober concluded, her point emerging in the high, squeaky voice of someone who’s just sucked down a balloon’s-worth of helium in order to ease viewers into the unnecessarily stigmatized discussion. Honka-honka!
80 Comments
If babies were given the choice, I bet they would choose life over death.https://rightlydividingthewordoftruth77.blogspot.com/
I could say the same thing about cancerous tumors so fuck off.
There is only two ways to respond to a troll…One, don’t even respond.Two, mock him for the asshole he is like this….
“Nooo don’t swat me, I deserve a CHOICE to LIVE!” – Malarial mosquito
I read the post as sarcasm, was I wrong?
If a frog had wings, I bet it would fly.
Maybe, but fetuses are not babies nor are they people. They can’t choose shit.
Good thing they’re not babies then.
And if my grandma had wheels, she’d be a wagon.
you should dismiss these people because they’re probably troll-bots who just argue in circles… If you must answer them, then why not make a screenshot and post that and comment on that, otherwise you’ll just put them at the top of the thread and they will be more at the top of the thread and they’ll be more cooler than me…
You’re the coolest!
Fetus worshipers should be dismissed as irrational, immoral slime who want to reduce women to the status of property.
nobody will ever love you and you will die angry, frustrated, and utterly alone.
I bet if you had a dick which worked, you would not hate women so much.
And if Kinja was a half-way decent commenting system, it would have a block or mute function.
Oh boy! I really wanna read your blog! 😐
You are not a good person. You might think you are, but you’re the literal scum of the earth.
We’re not talking about babies. We’re talking about blobs of cells.
If ‘only’s and ‘just’s were candies and nuts, then every day would be Erntedankfest.
Except… they aren’t babies yet. Just a cluster of cells that are not viable without a host.If all of the women in American got together and chose to end abortion, I’d listen. But it is mostly angry white males so I’ll trust that women know they’re doing when they make the choice.
You’d think all these men would be for abortion, think of all the child support money they’d save when they’re mistresses get pregnant.
Wait until they get what they want. Then you’ll hear really whining.
The shitty link and blog spot really nails just what an asshole you are.
ew, did you actually click it?
Nah…I could tell just by the “blog spot” and other crappy word salad in that link description…
Fuck them babies
ok, Rick James…
Should we make menstruation illegal, too? I bet if an egg were given the choice, they would choose life over death. We should pass a law requiring every woman to have unprotected sex at least once every menstrual cycle. Abstinence is murder! And are you a vegetarian?
If you gave your toenails a choice, they wouldn’t choose to be clipped off and thrown in the trash! Ban nail clippers!
Do you normally come here for the F reviews of Kirk Cameron movies?
Who knows, have you actually asked them? Also, what do babies have to do with this?
If a baby could choose such a thing you’re also suggesting what if babies were born self aware with intelligence. That changes everything.
If the fetuseses are so self-aware, maybe they should vote on this!VOTES FOR FETUSES!
Most parasites would.
Which babies are you talking about?
Babies are born. They are people, a fetus is not. Fetus worshipers pretend to love the unborn, while showing contempt for all people, the born. Their position is immoral disgusting bullsh1t.
So would the literally billions of sperm who don’t inseminate an egg but you still jack off regardless.
every one of those is sacred
…uh…have you looked around this place lately? Existence, I mean. Are you sure about that?
If babies were given the choice, I bet they would choose not to be a weird shitbag who just googles anything having to do with abortion on all day so they can comment the same dumb link and asinine argument over and over again.
And the mothers whose lives might be endangered? Fuck their choice right? You don’t give a fuck about babies and no one should give a fuck about you
You dummy, babies can’t talk.
Fuck off, you Christian hypocrite twatwaffle.
If fetuses had saxophones, I bet they’d want to sound like Albert Ayler
Yah, good thing a zygote isn’t a baby.
Not all. Some would choose not to choose life. Some would choose somethin’ else. And the reasons? There are no reasons. Who needs reasons when you’ve got heroin?
ok
So smart and funny and genius and sad.
like Jerry Lewis.
It was a brilliant bit. All the more so because I’m pretty sure it was a speculum Goober was holding instead of a bike horn.
Yikes. If you think that was a speculum, you should talk to your doctor…and use a LOT of lube…
That could have been a brilliant piece of commentary, but I’m 100% certain that’s a bike horn.
I think you might need to find a new gynecologist.
Was the costume meant to deliberately look like Lunette from The Big Comfy Couch? I can’t unsee it.
I was just about to post this when I read your post:
Holy shit this sketch. It’s one of the most brilliant ones SNL has ever done – it’s daring, poignant, furious, funny – and it makes the right people uncomfortable. Props to Cecily Strong for telling her own story through the guise of buffoonery. I think my favorite line was sort of a throw-away one. “What the DICK?” “I don’t think you can say that word on TV.” “What, ‘abortion?’” Yeah. It happens to 1 in 3 women, and we can’t say it on TV. Not without a scandal.
A bit delusional there, no anti-abortion advocate cares what someone on SNL says.
It depresses me that this is another (well spoken and funny) example of something that will matter not a single bit to the “right to life” crowd.The political objectors are directly feeding into and off of the ‘true believers’. They’ve constructed the narrative that abortion is murder, full stop. That if you were to remove a fertilized egg at the moment of conception and it ceases functioning, you have committed the equivalent of walking up to a child and shooting it in the head.It’s a religious belief and it’s never going to be countered by fact because it’s religion. Proof denies faith.When you hear these jacklegs telling you that they see you as a murderer and feel you deserve to die for going through this medical procedure, listen to them. This is how they actually feel. This is one of the flashpoints where the next civil war is starting.
The hardcore dogmatists are a minority. The danger they pose (aside from the occasional act of murder/terrorism) is their influence over intellectually passive people whose opinions could tip either way but ultimately incline toward conforming to the attitudes of family, friends, and neighbors who generally have their attention and sympathy by default. I believe the argument against outlawing abortion tends to be logically and morally overwhelming to a person who does not firmly believe that a microscopic blastocyst is, for all ethical and metaphysical purposes, essentially equivalent to an infant (which, according to polls, seems to describe most people’s attitudes), but that argument is elusive and easily ignored by people living in culturally isolated and intellectually impoverished enclaves, especially rural, conservative ones. The challenge is to make the argument much more insistent and explicit than the squishy, accommodating liberals who dominate the culture industry have been willing to make it so far.
I will 100% agree with you that the response from the majority of the ‘liberal’ side of the conversation is alarmingly out of step with the reality they face. Anyone that thought Mitch McConnell was going to suddenly behave differently really hasn’t paid attention to Mitch McConnell. I see the biggest problem being that a bunch of very, very wealthy people decided to utilize the ‘white majority’ strategy to consolidate their own wealth and power. True, the hardcore dogmatists are always going to be the minority – but right now, they’re being the voices that are amplified and driving the conversation. The monster has grown to the point where I don’t believe the Kochs and the McConnells and the Trumps have any real control over it any more. The entire culture is based on draconian values tests, and if you fail them, it doesn’t matter if you were their prophet up to that very moment.
From what I can see, the Koch brothers aren’t opposed to abortion, it’s just that the groups and politicians that support positions they do care about tend to be anti-abortion.
They weren’t opposed to segregation either. But they recognized such issues were great for getting bigoted poor white people to vote against their own economic interests. The Anti-abortion movement grew from the ashes of segregationism and employs much of the same strategies and appeals. It looks like they are already tooling up their efforts for anti-LBGT actions for the same effect.
This is all covered in Thomas Frank’s “What the Matter with Kansas?” in much detail – and is still pretty relevant to this day.
Well, a ‘minority’ with a pretty big chunk of the SCOTUS.
An important lesson when discussing any controversial political topic.I live in Texas and 1. there’s no way a 6-week limit holds up in court, but more importantly 2. there was no groundswell of demand to change the state’s abortion laws. This all appeared seemingly out of nowhere and Abbot just said “sure, why not.” (going back to your point about political passivism).
The article’s right that the two sides are pretty well entrenched, but there is a big group in the middle that generally wants abortion available but thinks once a fetus is a viable child (5-6 months) then the statute of limitations has run out. Those are the ones who just want to stay out of the argument. This holds true of almost any heated topic.
And the oddest part of this is, they have proven time and again, incident after incident, that they are in fact 100% fine with people walking up to children and shooting them in the head.
My own experience talking about abortion with individual pro-life people (specifically women) is that sometimes they’re not as dogmatic as you think. Obviously, I’m not talking about the shitheads that picket abortion clinics. But the rhetoric about abortion on the right always focuses on the “babies.” Refocusing the conversation on the terror and suffering of the women who make this choice can move them. Especially since a significant minority of these women, whether they will admit it or not, have themselves had an abortion and so they understand viscerally why a person would choose one.
Nah, these fetus worshipers are just the remnants of segregationists looking for the next social issue to act shitty about. After they finally concede political defeat, they will move to another issue. It looks like they are already lining up LBGT rights as their next target.
I feel a lot of people on the pro-choice side don’t understand there are a sick amount of people who think those dead clowns got what they deserve. How do you reason with a group that would rather see you dead?
I am pro choice and always have been, except for a few months when i was 16 in 1991 and the Summer of mercy came to my hometown and harrassed women and Dr Tiller. Once i reached the age of reason and understood overpopulation and the stress single mothers or unwanted children put on the system that is stuck with them, i changed my mind. I dont really care about SNL doing these types of things. I didnt like Bowen doing a similar schtick last year either. I really just need SNL to be funny. That being said,, the more i sat with this i appreciated Cecily personal story.I am still saddened that this is such a political and religious kooks wet dream.
The Youtube CC gives the line as “what the dink?”
But she clearly says “dick.” CC lines are notoriously wonky.
“a bunch of dead clowns in a dark alley.”
sounds like a good start to me!
Holy shit, I didn’t know SNL even had teeth, let alone knew how to use them. This is great.
If SNL really wanted to get people to think, this would have paired nicely with a sketch about a slave-owner clown before the Civil War: “Never mind the potential intrinsic worth my slaves: I’m a clown! Feel sorry for me that the gov’t wants to take away my right to own a slave! I’m what matters. And I want life to be convenient and easy for everyone in my position. How dare people make me feel bad for owning slaves. I’m a fun clown! Feel sorry for me.”
I’ll bet such a comedy bit like that would’ve been a smash hit back then, mocking those dumb Northerners trying to intervene in their business, because everyone then ‘just knew’ that a slave wasn’t a real person.
Just like how everyone commenting here ‘just knows’ that a gestating baby in the womb isn’t a person. Right?
Yeah, I don’t think your “Wacky Clown Slave Owner” pitch is quite ready for SNL. I don’t even think Kyle Mooney would be game for this, and he loves cringey premises! Also, your weird pro slavery message doesn’t have any punchlines. Maybe writing comedy isn’t your thing, but good luck with whatever else you’re filling your time with I guess! Hopefully not trying to get this “bit about slavery being just a buncha clownin around amirite fellas” off the ground!
SNL’s wacky clown abortion wasn’t exactly a laugh-riot, either. In both instances (my proposed sketch and theirs) features a clown asking the audience directly for sympathy despite subjugating a class of humans to non-person status for their own benefit, and they are outraged that their convenience might be restricted. So what makes one right and one wrong? In fact, both clowns should offend you equally, and if you’re buying into the pity-party of either one, funny or not, then you’re missing something far more critical to the debate.
I think what you’re “missing critical to the debate” is that you’re pitching a pro-slavery sketch on late night network television. I don’t think you understand how comedy works because you seem to have mistaken “uncomfortable laughs” for “well deserved and unending boos”. I’d suggest an improv class but I don’t want to be responsible for the fallout.
Not to be trite but I was laughing and crying watching this brilliant piece. The absurdity and the cruelty of this anti-woman movement by the right is something to behold.- Girl who also had an abortion at 23.
Looks like Alyson Court from the Big Comfy Couch.I’d like to find change in her cushions.