One thing lost with the death of Muammar Gadhafi Thursday was his recurring presence as an object of lampoon on “Saturday Night Live.”
Cast member Fred Armisen, who also portrays politicians from Barack Obama to, last week, Michael Bloomberg, on the show seemed to fit in Gadhafi’s earth-toned robes the best.
Here are a few of his appearances, starting with one from 2009 explaining his odd speech at the United Nations:
Then there was one from this spring, when he showed up to update his situation.
Earlier in the spring, he had been on a fake Charlie Sheen talk show, populated with crazy personalities.
And Armisen even played friends of Gadhafi, who spoke to Seth Meyers on “Weekend Update” about how weird he was, in whispered terms.
Armisen wasn’t the only one who played the Libyan dictator on the show. Because Kadhafy had a long rein, longer than even “Saturday Night Live,” he was also subject of a skit on “SNL” 30 years ago, when Brian Doyle Murray was anchor and the news segment was called “SNL Newsbreak.” According to the lead piece, from December 1981, Doyle-Murray said:
Our top story tonight: This man, Libyan leader, Col. Moammar Kadaffi, has been the study of intense news coverage this week by every major news organization in America.
However, every time his name appears in print, it has a different spelling. The Chicago Tribune spells it K-H-A-D-A-F-Y; The Los Angeles Times spells it K-A-D-A-F-I; Newsweek Magazine, K-A-D-D-A-F-I; Time Magazine, G-A-D-D-A-F-I; The Wall Street Journal, Q-A-D-H-A-F-I; The Washington Post, Q-A-D-D-A-F-I; The New York Times, el-Qaddafi.
My personal favorite is from the comic book publishers – Kadaffy Duck.