Al Franken Had 'SNL' Role in Thomas' Confirmation Hearings
Even though Al Franken has been a U.S. senator and a member of the Senate Judiciary Committee for barely a day, he’s only days away from helping to run hearings on the U.S. Supreme Court nomination of Judge Sonia Sotomayor.
And while Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid called Franken “extremely smart” when asked why he was placed on the judiciary committee, he didn’t mention a role Franken had in relation to Supreme Court Justice Clarence Thomas’ confirmation hearings.
Franken, of course, was a writer and performer on Saturday Night Live in the 1970s, ’80s and ’90s, and USA Today’s On Politics blog remembered a 1991 sketch in which Franken portrayed then-Senate Judiciary Committee member Paul Simon, D-Ill. Anita Hill, a onetime assistant to Thomas, made sexual harassment allegations against Thomas at those hearings.
“The SNL skit parodied the Judiciary proceedings by suggesting that members of the then-all male panel were more interested in tricks for ensnaring women than in Thomas’ qualifications,” USA Today wrote. It also excerpted a transcript of the skit it found on a fan site, with Franken as Simon and Tim Meadows as Thomas:
Sen. Paul Simon: Um … Judge? Judge Thomas? Judge Thomas, are you aware of that, uh … division of our … government … known as the, uh … Criminal Justice, uh.. Department?
Judge Clarence Thomas: Of course I am, Senator!
Sen. Paul Simon: Well, you know when you walk in the main entrance of the Criminal Justice Building … there’s this receptionist with short brown hair?
Judge Clarence Thomas: The, uh … one at the third desk on the left?
Sen. Paul Simon: No, no. The one at the big, circular desk, uh … right there in the center there.
Judge Clarence Thomas: Oh, yes—Sandy.
Sen. Paul Simon: Yes. Sandy. Um … do you think that she’d go out with me?
Judge Clarence Thomas: Well, Senator Simon, not knowing your technique, I feel that it would be unfair for me to prejudge your chances with her.
