Over the weekend, “Saturday Night Live” had originally planned to run a cold open featuring Fred Armisen’s President Obama that basically lampooned Obama’s supposed exploitation of the killing of Bin Laden.

“This is a special time of year,” Obama says, “when we gather together with family and friends to commemorate the shooting of this terrorist, and the gutsy decision that made it possible.”

“Unfortunately, I wasn’t able to be at home this year, as I had to fly to Afghanistan, to remind President Karzai that, exactly one year ago, we killed Osama bin Laden and that the decision to do so was a gutsy one — and was mine.”

The skit ultimately was cut in favor of the Fox & Friends sketch, which basically (rightfully) makes fun of Fox News for being dumb, biased, and racist. Naturally, the conservative media — everyone from the National Review to the folks over at Breitbart — is throwing a hissy fit, claiming that “Saturday Night Live” won’t attack Obama during an election year because of the show’s own political biases. Lorne Michaels, however, shot back, asserting that “It wasn’t its politics. It was about the comedy. The show’s many things, but partisan it is not.”

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Bob Beckel looks like a fat cat from a newspaper cartoon, complete with a belligerent attitude, huge waistline, jowls, and comical suspenders. He makes for great TV, and last night, he appeared on “Hannity.” After returning from a commercial break, the first thing the audience at home heard was Beckel telling fellow panelist Jennifer Stefano, “If you think that Head Start is a failure, then you don’t know what the f*ck you’re talking about.”

I hear she also hates corgis. At first, Beckel doesn’t believe that the cameras were on when he used that “foul word.” But like Ralph Wiggum’s heart, you can pinpoint the exact second when it dawns on him what he did — at 0:40, FYI. And then Beckel blames Hannity for his slip-up and Stefano, a Tea Party activist, yells something about “typical liberals” and the “arena of ideas” and Beckel looks like he pissed himself and everything dissolves into a swearless conversation about something and I HATE that football SO much. The end.

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We’re a TV blog, which means we’re supposed to TV things, particularly when it involves someone on TV saying something epically idiotic. That happened earlier today when Geraldo Rivera, who’s been an American punch line for over 20 years now, thanks to not finding anything in Al Capone’s vault (and being a generally awful person), had the following to say about the recent murder of black teenager Trayvon Martin on “Fox & Friends”: “I think the hoodie is as much responsible for Trayvon Martin’s death as George Zimmerman was.” THAT’S RAYCESS.

It’s sad that the scandal over what Rivera said is likely going to overshadow the tragedy of Martin’s slaying. But today’s a gorgeous Friday, National Puppy Day at that, and I just can’t, nay, WON’T get angry about what that Big Mouth Billy Bass look-alike with the mustache said when the whole Martin case is already sooo frustrating and unfair. So I’ll let Tom Haverford and Patton Oswalt sum up my feelings instead:

Fu*k you, indeed. (Via)

It’s been a weird couple of weeks where comedy and politics intersect. Rush Limbaugh calls Sandra Fluke a slut and is roundly criticized, and within a week, Limbaugh lost a staggering 141 advertisers. That should’ve been the end of it, but of course, it wasn’t. The right immediately shot back, claiming that a series of liberal comedians were guilty of worst sins than Limbaugh. Check out Fox News or Big Hollywood, and the story is not about Rush Limbaugh anymore. It was at first about the left’s crusade against free speech, and when that didn’t score points, the right began claiming the left is just as guilty as Rush Limbaugh.

Jon Stewart attacked Fox News for playing the victim card, then Big Hollywood attacks Jon Stewart for attacking Rush Limbaugh. Louis CK decides not host the Correspondent’s Dinner because Greta Van Susteren called him a pig, and then Michelle Obama is called a hypocrite for going on Letterman’s show after Letterman called the Palin kid a slut several years ago. It’s all getting kind of ridiculous and out of hand.

Earlier this week, Bill Maher — who defended Rush Limbaugh — was attacked for his own past “misogynistic” comments. Maher’s response:

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On Friday, Louis C.K. dropped out of hosting the 68th annual Radio & Television Congressional Correspondents Dinner, to be held on June 8, with many speculating that his decision was based on a blog post written by Fox News’ Greta Van Susteren. (His agent’s response: “He just didn’t want to do it anymore.”) Under the headline of “I refuse to go to the Radio and Television Correspondents Association Dinner – no one should go,” she wrote:

Another pig…and a media association has hired the pig, Louis C.K., to be their headliner for the big media dinner? Really? I am not going. I refuse to go. Everyone in the media should join me in this boycott.

The headliner of this year’s Radio and Television Correspondents Dinner is “comedian” Louis C.K. Comedian? I don’t think so. Pig? yes.

He uses filthy language about women…yes, the C word…and yes, even to describe a woman candidate for Vice President of the United States. It isn’t just Governor Palin he denigrates. He denigrates all women and looks to the crowd to laugh.

I refuse to show any support for this guy or for the Radio and Television Correspondents Association Dinner Committee who hired him. I think the organization that hired him is just as bad as he is. It is no secret that he denigrates women.

She has a way with words, doesn’t she? Van Susteren also quoted C.K.’s Twitter: “I want to rub my father’s co*k all over Sarah Palin’s fat tits” (which, he’ll admit, isn’t funny — he later told GQ, “God, what a mess. I really shouldn’t have done that. I regret it a lot. I wish I hadn’t done that…I’m not a political comedian. That’s just not what I do.”) I’ll keep this simple: she’s wrong. Her reasoning feels like a more extreme, gender-based version of the argument made against “The Simpsons” in the early 1990s, when (mostly) Conservatives called it detrimental to society. They totally missed the point, because they heard only what they wanted to hear — anyone who thinks Louis C.K. is sexist clearly hasn’t seen 98% of his work. It’s called “context.” Plus: Van Susteren, remember when Rush Limbaugh called Sandra Fluke a “slut,” and you never called him a swine? Um, yeah. Lastly, Van Susteren’s a Scientologist, so her point is invalid.

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