Stick to the Pool
It must be something in their genes: Great swimmers are horrible comics.
I was really looking forward to the season premier episode of Saturday Night Live this past Saturday to see how Michael Phelps would do in his first stab at live comedy ... granted, something that would be very difficult for anyone to do.
But Phelps, winner of eight gold medals at the Beijing Olympics, was not just bad; he was way beyond horrible.
The poor guy had no timing, no stage presence and, something entirely beyond his control, he had terrible material provided to him by the SNL writers, who really do run hot and cold in their comedy.
For those old enough to remember, it brought to mind a similarly awful comedy debut by Phelps’s swimming predecessor, Mark Spitz. After Spitz won his seven golds in Munich in 1972, he made an appearance on a Bob Hope special and was an awkward embarrassment. Despite his amazing athletic feats, television was definitely not for him and he basically disappeared.
All I can say to Phelps is cash in now on what you can, baby, because any future you may have is in the water, or maybe in business, but certainly not on the screen.
Actually, the only good part of SNL that night was the opening scene where Tina Fey portrayed John McCain’s VP running mate Sarah Palin. She could pass as a Palin twin and the bit she did with Amy Poehler, playing Hillary Clinton, was hilarious.
I was really looking forward to the season premier episode of Saturday Night Live this past Saturday to see how Michael Phelps would do in his first stab at live comedy ... granted, something that would be very difficult for anyone to do.
But Phelps, winner of eight gold medals at the Beijing Olympics, was not just bad; he was way beyond horrible.
The poor guy had no timing, no stage presence and, something entirely beyond his control, he had terrible material provided to him by the SNL writers, who really do run hot and cold in their comedy.
For those old enough to remember, it brought to mind a similarly awful comedy debut by Phelps’s swimming predecessor, Mark Spitz. After Spitz won his seven golds in Munich in 1972, he made an appearance on a Bob Hope special and was an awkward embarrassment. Despite his amazing athletic feats, television was definitely not for him and he basically disappeared.
All I can say to Phelps is cash in now on what you can, baby, because any future you may have is in the water, or maybe in business, but certainly not on the screen.
Actually, the only good part of SNL that night was the opening scene where Tina Fey portrayed John McCain’s VP running mate Sarah Palin. She could pass as a Palin twin and the bit she did with Amy Poehler, playing Hillary Clinton, was hilarious.
posted by sam bakotich at
1:30 PM
1 Comments:
I saw Phelps on Leno one night a couple weeks back and he really didn't have much of a personality. Very dry and stoic. He and Coach Willingham would make a great tag-team!
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