This week’s edition of the Whitman Arts Corner column is brought to you by Regis (b. 1933, class of 2023), Whitman’s oldest current student.

This week it is of my utmost pleasure to share with you my take on the hit comedy show, “Saturday Night Live.” I loved the show as a young adult and remember when it first aired…boy did it rally those three silly stooges with all their malarky.

I will have you know I stayed up gruesomely late to watch this week’s episode, but I was pleasantly surprised when I turned to that rusty trusty PBS channel to see the program, which began promptly at midnight… it had me ponder why the network might call it “Saturday Night Live” when the show does indeed begin weekly on Sunday’s first hour… Regardless, I was disoriented at first when the program asked me to buy something…it was vacuum cleaners that can swivel under various types of upholstery and it caught my attention, but I must say it didn’t make me laugh. By the end of the program, with my feet up and kettle corn consumed, I still was shocked to see that they had no variety from the first sketch…they were still on this vacuum cleaner scene.

I must say, however, I wanted to buy the vacuum cleaner by the end, and the show made it real convenient for me because it had the phone number in large font so I would be able to call and put in an order for myself. More tempting yet, the cost of one of the vacuums was only three payment installments of $249.95. I just couldn’t say no.

To reiterate, “Saturday Night Live” has really gone downhill with the comedy. It did not make me laugh. Not like it used to. I do think, though, that it surely has a future in marketing, and I look forward to my vacuum after I pay for it over the next year and a half and have it picked up from its layaway in China.