Mohicans in Saturday Night Live

In the opening skit of tonight's Saturday Night Live, Diane Sawyer (Kristen Wiig) is interviewing Dick Cheney (Darrell Hammond). She asks him a series of increasingly emotional questions to see if he'll express regret. The final one is about Indians:SAWYER:  Now if I may, I'd like to ask you a question about the novel Last of the Mohicans by James Fenimore Cooper.

SAWYER:  In that novel, Uncas, the son of Chingachgook, is killed.

CHENEY:  I was not aware of that.

SAWYER:  Now that you know it is that something you regret?

CHENEY:  No.

SAWYER:  Would it change your opinion if I told you that in the book, Uncas is the last of his tribe? In other words, the last of the Mohicans?

CHENEY:  It would not.Comment:  Perhaps because of Rosario Dawson, the guest host, most of the skits had a racial edge. That's good. But although they were well-executed, the skits weren't that funny. That's bad.

This skit was a typical example. Wiig and Hammond nailed their impressions of Sawyer and Cheney. But the monotonical questions and answers were more satirical than humorous in nature. The skit didn't go anywhere; it kept on the same even keel throughout.

In short, the show was no better than average overall. For more on Natives in SNL, see Palin Rap Features Eskimos and Plains Chief at Stonetown.